


The Sweet Ideals of Childhood

by Isaac_Not_Newton



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Parents, Also Rated Mature For Content, Angst, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Bad Parenting, Broken Families, Broken Friendships, Child Abuse, Dark Thoughts, Distrust, Doubt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Lies, M/M, Misunderstandings, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Sad Oma Kokichi, Secrets, Self-Doubt, Slow To Update, Threesome - M/M/M, Violence, Vomiting, rated mature for language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2020-10-17 12:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isaac_Not_Newton/pseuds/Isaac_Not_Newton
Summary: A child like Kokichi Oma had no chances to choose for himself. He wasn't allowed to go out so they shouldn't have been surprised that Kokichi would rebel. Meanwhile, a notorious group called the Ultimate Hunt is responsible for kidnappings all over the world, but why do they have their eyes on kids and why does the Future Foundation want to reach the said kids before the Ultimate Hunt?*Please read the tags, thank you*





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

His parents had left to some social event again, he was sure of it. No matter what they said, usually that they had work, he knew that his parents were too ashamed of him to bring him anywhere. They were leaving him with Kirumi the caretaker again, he didn’t particularly mind it, but he didn’t appreciate it either. He was already 12, he knew what he could do and couldn’t do. It wasn’t like his parents even cared all that much. They always left him to someone else, who just so happened to be Tojo Kirumi, a girl around the same age as him but that was already praised by all adults to be very adult-like. Today, he’d escape her. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and also, it would cause trouble for Kirumi’s spotless record.

He heard her slide the key in and got ready, checking that everything was in position and ready to go. With a silence that was unlike himself, he waited with bated breath. Finally, the key pushed in and she turned it. She always removed the key from the keyhole before she pushed it open and as soon as she did, he pulled on the string. In the kitchen on the first floor, there was a metal tray, placed so that when Kokichi pulled on the string it would topple over and create a decent amount of noise to hide his intentions. 

He clicked on a remote and heard the radio that he had placed outside to blare. In timing with the metal plate clanging on the ground, he pushed his window open. It screeched as if in anger that he was escaping and he pushed the array of scarves tied together down the balcony. It was an elaborate plan. The scarf that was ultimately tied on top had a zipper, to which Kokichi had tied another string to. The second he managed his descent, he yanked on the zipper and the scarf-rope came falling down, moving with the wind. He stuffed all the scarves and string into the hole he had prepared in advance and packed the loose dirt back in as quickly as he could.

Inside, he could hear Kirumi’s panicking voice call out for him. He felt a twinge of guilt, but his strong sense of exploration made him continue with the plan. He grabbed the little patch of fake grass he had prepared, laid it on top of his hole and stepped on it a couple of times. He could hear loud music blare and he was sure soon the whole neighborhood would be awake. After all, it was already 12:03 in the morning. He ran, he ran away from the babysitter that must have been done with him. He ran away from the home that felt more like a prison and felt free. There was no string attached to him that would yank him back like it always did.

He was liberated from the duties that he shouldered but then, just as things were getting too good to be true, his dream kind of shattered. He had no idea where to go, he had no map of the city nor did he have a cellphone. He remembered one of his fellow students telling his other friend to follow the highway close to Kokichi’s home to reach a certain beach. He took his chances and started running towards the highway. If he kept stalling, he didn’t dare think what Kirumi would do to him.

“I’m freeeeeee!” He yelled into the wind. The highway had a few cars rolling, there were a bunch of lights that illuminated his way and he couldn’t help but think about how pretty things were from this angle. He wasn’t sitting on a car for once and he could finally appreciate the view. The night wind blew gently around him and he felt like it was caressing him as if to say he made the right choice. The passing cars’ headlights made beautiful reflections in the water which reminded him of fairy lights. 

He was dimly aware that it was dangerous for him to be alone and out at this time in the night, but he couldn’t care less as he hollered at the body of water that seemed to extend into the infinite in front of him. One of the cars that passed had the news blaring at the loudest it seemed the car could allow and Kokichi froze, dreams dimming slightly.

“Suspected of being part of the Ultimate Hunt, a woman was arrested for the recent serial kidnappings. We have no rights to reveal her na-” The sentence trailed off into the now howling wind. He was vaguely aware that the wind on top of the bridge was a lot colder so he decided to move quicker. 

He had never really realized just how long the bridge was until he had to walk across it. Halfway through it, he was getting tired but he had never felt more alive than at that moment. He laughed, perhaps he would’ve passed for a psychopath had there been anyone else on that bloody bridge. Seriously, why was it so crimson red? He shook his head and kept laughing, moving forwards. By the time he got off the bridge, 20 minutes had passed and by chance, he saw it. He saw the little sign his classmate had named as a landmark. 

He turned right then, quite unsure but that just added fuel into his determination that he liked to consider as fire. The beach shouldn’t be far by bike, but the bike was much quicker than a small boy like Kokichi. The soul was wet he noticed as his shoe kind of sunk into the ground. Small twigs snapped under his foot and he regularly tripped on tree roots that twisted on the floor as if they really were trying to trip him. This just made him giddier. He would never get this chance again, he knew it. The second he’d return back home, he would be screwed. His parents wouldn’t allow him to live his life without the consequences of him running away always present.

“Ah!” Kokichi screamed as he got a look at the beach. It wasn’t really a beach, it was sandy all right, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t legally allowed to be a beach. He stepped closer to the water and giggled at how black it looked. He couldn’t help but compare it to what he felt like his soul must’ve looked like.

“What are you doing here?” A small voice asked, startling the living shit out of Kokichi. A boy around his age sat in the beach, curled up into himself. He was wearing a cap that hid half his face and Kokichi couldn’t help but be scared. Outside from his classmates, he had never interacted with anybody that wasn’t part of his family. It scared him, how easily this boy seemed to be able to speak.

He opened his mouth and then closed it. He opened his mouth again, trying to speak but nothing came out. He felt like his voice had been swallowed along with the increasing amount of saliva that he was producing. He realized he was trembling and for the first time, he really felt fear like never before. This was a kind of fear that didn’t come from disappointing anyone or not doing what the other said to do. The thought of being in fear scared him, everything at this moment about him screamed anxiety and that seemed to make the other boy relax. Even so, Kokichi couldn’t help but feel giddy, he was going to interact with another human being. A human being that most likely didn’t know who he was and he was glad for that. He was sure that if the other boy knew that he wouldn’t want to be friends with him.

“I’m running from an evil organization that’s trying to kidnap me and everyone else that I love,” Kokichi immediately spewed out. Bullshit, but it was amazing, he could say anything and the other boy wouldn’t know truth from a lie because he didn’t know him. 

“What?” The boy asked, looking startled. Or maybe not, it was kind of hard to tell with the cap on, Kokichi wished the other to take it off or angle it in a way that wouldn’t hide his face

“I said,” Kokichi smiled.

“I heard what you said, but won’t you stop lying?” The boy asked, startling Kokichi. How had the other known? He was quite sure that he was good at lying, yet he saw through him so easily.

“I ran away from home,” Kokichi mumbled, feet shuffling closer. His shoes had captured all his interest suddenly. He didn’t even know why he was so compelled to tell the truth to somebody he had just met. Kirumi seemed to fall for his lies all the time so he had assumed he was quite good at telling them, so why? Why couldn’t he seem to lie to the cute boy that sat in front of him? Wait, cute?

“Sit down, my name is Saihara Shuichi, what about you?” He asked gently and pat the sand next to him. Kokichi did as he was told.

“Oma… Oma Kokichi,” he replied. He saw it, the flash of recognition that passed in Shuichi’s eyes. He knew that he was screwed. His parents had already told him that no coming person would want to speak to him if he presented himself with that name and that he shouldn’t even try. Shuichi’s eyes softened when he caught the smaller boy’s breath quicken. 

“Nice to meet you Oma-kun,” Shuichi smiled and Kokichi couldn’t help but blush. Just what was wrong with him, his first encounter with another person and he was already looking stupid.

“I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but what do you want to run away with us? My friend called Amami Rantaro will get here soon. He’s a bit weird and seems to be able to read other people’s minds, but he’s actually very kind once you get to know him,” another voice said. A boy with green hair popped out from between the leaves and startled both boys.

“What?” Kokichi asked confused.

“Aren’t I right?” The boy called Rantaro asked.

“Yes, would you want to?” Shuichi asked, blushing a bit. He looked like he was afraid that Kokichi would reject him, but there was no way he would.

“I’d love to! I just can’t live with this always watching over me,” Kokichi yelled out. He could feel himself break a bit. He really couldn’t live with it anymore. He gestured to the part of the city that he was from and held his own head in his hair. He hasn’t even realized he was pulling at his hair until Shuichi let out a distressed sound and Rantaro gently pried his fingers away from his abused scalp.

“Then come with us. We know that we sound suspicious, but if you give us a chance, we’ll prove it to you that we’re reliable,” Rantaro smiles and how was Kokichi supposed to say no? An out of the family that kept threatening him or an escape with nothing ahead of him planned? He decided at that moment that he would rather have his own liberty than stay cooped up at home with no means to live his own life. He was on board no matter how bad it sounded and he really pitied himself for it.

And so, without a roof on their head, much money and nothing much really, all 3 of them got up and walked off. They walked off into the starry night with cars rushing past them, fear welling up in all of their stomachs with only comfort, the presence of the 2 other next to them. 

“2 children have been reported missing, but the perpetrator is said to be behind bars? This is unacceptable, how are the people supposed to stay loyal to the Future Foundation?” The old man yelled.

“We are sorry sir, we will do our best to find the 2 missing children,” a woman answered.

“You better because, if we lose them, something big might happen,” the old man yelled and finally dismissed the people in the room.

“Let’s go,” a boy said, followed by his friends, they left the dimly lit room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Instagram (isaac_not_newton3) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


	2. The Lessons We Learn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unwanted attention befalls upon the 2 escaping from their fate.

It was cold, Kokichi could feel it prickling at his skin, but it felt great at the same time. It wasn’t a sensation he got to feel all that often and he let out an honest laugh, surprising his companions. He didn’t notice the smiles they wore at his childish fascination directed to the world. The trees looked so much greener, this far from the city. It had turned out, as Rantaro had explained that they were actually quite close to the suburban area as soon as they crossed the bridge. Rantaro had also ruffled Kokichi’s hair to tell him that he was quite proud of him for crossing such a long bridge by himself, and for the first time, Kokichi felt pride well up inside of him. At least, it felt like the first time.

His family life consisted of him doing whatever he could to please his parents, but it was never enough. Every time he’d do something that would make him proud of himself, someone would find a way of ruining it. Honestly, he swore that he never hated nor will hate Kirumi Tojo, she was an amazing person but with all these circumstances, it was hard to like her very much. That one time he had come home, all proud to have come first in the spelling bee, Kirumi had smiled at him and showed him with sparkling eyes a picture of all the certificates she had gotten from winning. His parents had been impressed and therefore, his certificate didn’t mean anything. The next year, he enrolled himself again, but this time he came out second and that had been the end of that. His parents had given him the same disgusted look you’d give a dog on the side of the street, erring towards nowhere and looking beat-up beyond repair. Kokichi quite liked to pet those dogs, but he was not allowed to do it often. Only when Kirumi wasn’t paying attention.

“Kokichi,” Shuichi softly called out, surprising the smaller boy. He turned around and put on a smile, the one that Kirumi and his parents were used to, one that wasn’t really his.

“Yes, Shuichi dear?” Kokichi singsonged and he watched, impressed, as Shuichi’s face lit up with a tiny smile. It was one of the first time somebody was smiling at him like they appreciated him. In general, their smiles were never genuine, his last name made it hard for people to respect him, but it was even harder not to. This smile was so uncharacteristic to him that he didn’t even hear what Shuichi said next.

“He asked if you were cold because you’re trembling,” Rantaro blurred out before Kokichi could even start forming a decent way to phrase his inattention. He did want to answer that question no matter what so he took an unsteady step forward, surprising himself as he tripped over nothing. And at the moment, the only course of thought that passed through him was that he was about to disrespect a rule his parents had set. It was a terrifying thought, to know that he was being bad even while he was away from home. Just how much did he care about his family.

“Ahhhh!” He screeched as he fell. He watched as Rantaro lurched forward and caught him before he could fall on the ground. Concern flashed in Rantaro’s eyes and he saw it, but he couldn’t apologize.

Not right now, when he had so blatantly broken 2 rules. He had fallen to being with, how undignified of him. He could hear the sound of his father’s harsh hand slapping at his 9 years old face again and he feared he would start crying. The other rule was one of never letting other people hear or feel your weaknesses. He had also failed at that, letting out such an intense scream. Just how bad could he be in one day? He had broken 3 rules already and he feared whatever the next one was going to be. What if his parents found him and decided to confine him at home with Kirumi as a private tutor? Falling had reminded him of the pain of the grits and his past mistakes. He couldn’t even begin to explain how grateful he was. 

“Nishishi! Amami-kun, did you really think that I required assistance? I just tripped a bit” Kokichi laughed and he saw it, the flash of confusion in Rantaro’s eyes and he knew then, that his lies weren’t as easy to see through as Shuichi had left him believing.

“Trip? You didn’t trip over anything, your knee just buckled and I want to see why,” Shuichi explained in a way that didn’t leave much choice to the purple haired boy. Just as he was about to sit on the ground, he saw the perfect excuse. A disformed shape of black laid on the side of the road, half hidden by the bushes close to it and the other half out in the open. 

“What’s that?” Kokichi giggled, totally ignoring Shuichi. Not really, in his mind, Kokichi was panicking. It seemed that lying to Shuichi didn’t work and he desperately hoped that distracting him would. He managed to disturb Rantaro however so that was good. The green haired boy walked closer and fished out the form out of the bushes. Kokichi froze, mid-giggle and did not go unnoticed by any of them. However, no one commented as he ran over to the half discoloured backpack.

It was his, the pain he felt when he knelt down was bad, but he could live through it. He had suffered worse than this so he should be fine. He grinned childishly as he took out the change of clothing that was inside of it. The once black and white checkered bag was caked with mud but he didn’t care. He finally knew where his escape bag had ended up. He took out the pens and soaked notebook carefully and gently took out the item that was wrapped inside of his faded scarf. It was a fountain pen, perhaps the scarf had actually protected it because it was still working when he glided it over his hand, leaving a trail of blue that even today mesmerized him.

“Is that yours?” Rantaro asked softly and his eyes widened at the tears that rolled down the little boy’s cheek.

“No, it belongs to my family which I killed to escape from,” Kokichi tried to furiously dry his tears as he fumbled with the cap of the pen. It was the first gift he had ever gotten and it was given to him by Kirumi. He slid it into the pocket and put on his backpack.

“Huh?” Rantaro asked, eyebrows furrowing In concentration.

“I’m joking, it was a memento of my late brother. I didn’t actually kill my parents, the one I killed was him,” Kokichi said but it wasn’t really convincing.

“Knees,” Shuichi thundered over. His steps seemed to echo in this silent place, diSturbed only by them.

“My knees are fine Saihara-chan! I just tripped, you don’t need to be so suspicious,” Kokichi giggled. He would hide his knees until they got better. He didn't want either of them to see the pitiful state his knees were in. Even if he had deserved it for breaking the rules, he still thought that kneeling on grits was quite painful and left his knees very ugly afterwards. He grimaced inwardly and throughout his own interior monologue, he didn’t notice that Rantaro had gotten himself behind him and was now hugging him in a way that wouldn’t let him escape.

“Sorry Kichi, but I feel like this is important,” Rantaro muttered into his hair. Kokichi felt like he had been punched. What was up with them? Couldn’t they let this just go? They definitely wouldn’t be bringing him anywhere after seeing the state his knees were in so he did what he thought was logical. He kicked and thrashed around in Rantaro’s grip, but the other didn’t even look fazed. He was breathing harshly by now and he didn’t even realize when he ran out of steam and Shuichi grabbed his pant leg and pulled it back up. He chewed on his lower lip to repress the pained noise that threatened to spill out of the fabric brushed his hurting kneecaps even more than they had. Shuichi’s eyes immediately widened and he saw him send a look at Rantaro who he heard sharply inhaled.

“What? Do you think this is painful? This is all makeup to make you guys feel that I’m pitiful and take me with you!” Kokichi lied, but the worry was seeping out of him quickly. He was so screwed now, especially when Shuichi saw the state of his other leg. It was okay he told himself. It would be okay even if they left him behind. He wasn’t stupid, he was sure he could find a way to survive. He knew the way back home too, he knew what he could and couldn’t eat inside of the forest that seemed to be closing in.

“Hey Rantaro, let go of him!” Shuichi yelped and watched as Rantaro gently sat Kokichi onto his checkered scarf. Kokichi was breathing all erratically and wasn’t moving all that much anymore.

“Kichi, will you tell me what's wrong?” Rantaro asked. He still had his arms around the small boy. His current stone-like composure didn’t allow him to take away his arms and honestly, he didn’t really want to. He watched as the boy tried to form words, but they weren’t coming together and he gently traced patterns on the hand that had gone to grab Rantaro’s.

“It’s okay, take your time,” Shuichi smiled that same gentle smile he had earlier in the morning. It must’ve been around 3 am by now. It was dark and the light that was directly above them helped them see more than he wanted to. Kokichi wished for the lights to have broken or something so that he wouldn’t be so visible.

“I’m sorry! Please don’t leave me!” The boy cried out, holding onto Rantaro’s shirt as if his life depended on it. The other 2 felt their hearts break, he looked so vulnerable like this, crying and clinging onto Rantaro’s shirt. Shuichi took off his backpack, something that Kokichi had been captivated with the outside world to really notice, a little tin can. It had a strong smell that attracted Kokichi’s attention. He felt like he had crashed back into reality. It was a familiar smell, it was the same tin Kirumi used on his wounds. 

“We’re not going to leave you, what are you talking about?” Shuichi asked and then he froze. Shuichi was sharp even if he didn’t know what was causing trouble. Kokichi kept his body relaxed, it wasn’t his first rodeo with people watching him. 

“Kichi?” Rantaro asked as he watched the smaller boy push him away and get up. No, this wasn’t the time to be weak. Not with whoever was watching them from behind the bushes. He walked over to Shuichi and grabbed the tin can. He could feel his hand trembling, but is sense were sharp. He knew it wasn’t Kirumi, she would’ve tried to reason with him and capture him before going for such an underhanded tactic.

“Someone’s watching us,” Kokichi whispered into Shuichi’s ear. He saw Shuichi’s eyes sharpen as the purple-haired boy sauntered over to Rantaro. It hurt, all the pressure on his kneecaps, but he would be fine.

“Carry me Amami-chan,” Kokichi demanded. He was genuinely surprised at how cautious Rantaro suddenly look. It made Kokichi shiver a bit, being able to read minds was not a superpower he wanted.

“Okay,” Rantaro agreed. Kokichi was given a piggyback ride. He knew his own limits, there was no way he could run with his swollen kneecaps. He grit his teeth and ordered Rantaro to start moving like a petulant child. Rantaro still had a creepy expression on his face and Kokichi whispered to him to stop being so tense.

“Let’s loop around the treeeeee!” Kokichi giggled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Rantaro did not complain and did as told, he had a hunch that the other actually had a plan. It was hard to see with the way Kokichi waved his arm around and the distant light, but he could see the shapes of at least 3 people in the bushes. Shuichi was watching Kokichi, but Rantaro knew better. The little detective seemed to be watching Kokichi with narrowed eyes, but his eyes were actually focused on the bushes. 

“Let’s go towards the next big tree and go around it again!” Kokichi giggled. Rantaro saw the 3 shadows hesitate, when it was only him and Shuichi, they wouldn’t hesitate to move forward, but it seemed that Kokichi’s presence was throwing them off.

Rantaro did as he was told and suddenly, Kokichi kneed him in the gut, causing him to fall down as his breath was cut short. He keeled over and he felt Kokichi get off of his back, pat him a few times and came closer to where his head was. Kokichi leaned forward and whispered something that made Rantaro’s blood go cold.

“Sorry and goodbye. Grab Shuichi and get out of here as quickly as possible. I noticed that they have been following you for a while. I don’t think they’ll capture me, so get out of here!” Kokichi hissed and pushed Rantaro forwards. 

“Hey no, you don’t get to make that choice!” Shuichi had approached and he looked absolutely scandalized.

“Too bad, this is the second choice I make and I won’t let it go down the drain. If I get to see you again, I’ll be very happy about it. Goodbye Rantaro, goodbye Shuichi,” Kokichi smiled and then ran back towards where they came from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Instagram (isaac_not_newton3) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3) (or you can just leave a comment). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


	3. A Fall That Doesn't Hurt Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi's plan comes to life and brings suspicion onto himself.

It was a pitiful attempt at running, Kokichi thought. He couldn’t even actually run all that well, but he was happy. Friends, that’s what he considered Rantaro and Shuichi to be and for the first time, he was doing something for his friends. It made a warm sensation bloom in him even if he was kind of sad that they didn’t oppose any more than necessary. He watched as their shadowy forms rand away into the night with a kind of longing that he wasn't used to.

It didn’t matter however, his plan was already set and ready to go. He was glad that he had left an unopened pack of thin piano wires in his backpack. The wire was hard to see in such a dark place and he was glad for that. From the moment they had stepped into the forest, he had been laying out his trap. The coil of wire he owned was incredibly long and he was grateful for that. It was enough to set up a net of wires, from the time he noticed the bag, he started weaving his trap. The last 2 trees that he circled around should be stable enough to hold the weight of the shadows.

And, he was right. Thinking that they had a plan, the shadows revealed themselves. They were 6, which was cause enough to worry about. 4 of them were actually out in the open while the last 2 remained hidden behind the thick trees. Probably there in case, it did turn out that there was a trap. That was okay too for Kokichi, his plan only required for him to say something that would capture their attention and that would be that. He was starting to doubt his abilities to lie but he couldn't let that hinder his project right now.

"I know your secret, I know why you're aiming for the two boys!" Kokichi singsonged. 

He ran and he saw them panic and start following him. The momentum of his run set his trap in motion and soon enough, the shadows that were stalking them tripped and fell into the net. Kokichi was kind of really powerless, but Rantaro and Shuichi weren’t the same. They were strong and agile, he was kind of happy that he had only pretended to not notice Shuichi’s backpack because it helped him forget that he actually attached a wire to both of his new friends. The one part of his plan that he hadn’t expected however was that he actually broke down in front of both of them, but this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. Kokichi yanked on the piano wires and felt a bit guilty because this could cut whoever was following the other 2. The trap sprung up from the ground, a net made of harmful materials

“Let us down!” One of them seethed in anger as he tied the piano wire that he had in his hand. It wouldn't be long before the weight of all 6 people would make the trees come loose and release them from the trap but for now, it was perfect. He'd later realized just how wrong he was and that those trees were way too strong.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” a girl screeched. He ignored them, just happy that his plan had somehow worked. He was tired and he ended up cutting the long wire with one of the tools in his bag before it could stop Rantaro and Shuichi too much.

“I told you that the threads were there so we could pull them,” he heard Shuichi’s voice and whirled around in surprise. What were they doing back here?

“I know but I didn’t think Kichi would do something so drastic such as push us away just to save us,” Rantaro replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

“Wait you guys knew?” Kokichi hissed out. Behind him, the sound of someone let out a pained yell alerted the 3 children. One of the people tailing them had struggled too much which led to his leg getting trapped by the sturdy wires. The smallest one watched as Rantaro walked over to the person, his step echoed a bit either that or Kokichi's attention was too zoomed on him. His eyes were dark with furry and so was his expression. Kokichi vaguely wondered about what the group had done to Rantaro for him to be this mad when he usually seemed so gentle. The green-haired male squatted down so he was close enough yet out of reach of the victim.

“If you give me some information, I’ll help out your leg. You’ll probably lose your leg if we don’t do something about it soon,” Rantaro’s head turned to the other’s leg and went back to stare at him.

“Amami-chan?” Kokichi asked. He was quite confused but the hand Shuichi had put on his shoulder told him not to ask any questions. Honestly, he hadn’t expected Rantaro to be able to do such things or for Shuichi to not stop him but life always seemed to reserve some secrets for him.

“I can’t tell you that!” It was a male’s voice that spit out that sentence full of venom. Kokichi winced as he felt Shuichi’s finger dig into his shoulder but it wasn’t painful. It had just surprised him or at least that's what he told himself. That grip reminded him of his father but not really for the said member of his family that was just mentioned didn't exactly pay that much attention to him. Shuichi’s face was tense and so were his shoulders if the hand on his shoulder wasn't proof enough of that.

“Who do you work for?” Rantaro asked. When he got no reply, he yanked on one of the wires and watched as the guy struggled and let out cries of pain.

“You can’t tell him!” One of the smarter ones yelled. He hadn’t struggled at all and that showed. None of his limbs were stuck in an awkward position or sticking out of one of the holes. 

“I know that, but it’s digging into my leg!” The man shrieked, flailing around and letting out pained yelps. It was pathetic and kind of hard to look at but Kokichi had a feeling that he needed to keep looking. He also felt that he might soon be in the same position as Rantaro.

“Oh, there’s blood,” Rantaro noticed. Neither Shuichi nor Kokichi corrected him. There was no blood and none of the other 5 were angled correctly to prove him wrong.

“No! Please! I don’t want to lose my leg! We’re from the Ultimate Hunt!” The man yelled. That seemed to satisfy Rantaro who pushed one of the wires trapping the man’s leg aside and pushed his leg back up into a safe position. The green-haired boy turned around and nodded to both of them, his expression was serious but nothing compared to how it had been when he'd walked over to the man held captive.

A sound made all three of them whirl around, it was the sound of someone swearing. It wasn't particularly close to where they were but you could never be too cautious or maybe you could but this was a topic for another day. The 6 caught in the trap started struggling more and so Kokichi signaled at his friend to follow him. The word friend was a bit weird, he never had to refer to anyone else by that term. It was surprising how much the other boys seemed to trust him, they followed him until Kokichi stopped short in his tracks. They weren’t really that far from the trap but Kokichi felt like standing here was safer than where they had previously been.

“There might be a trap down there,” Rantaro said, looking at Kokichi in wonder. As if to ask how Kokichi knew, Kokichi sent him an all-knowing smirk and shrugged.

“So you noticed it too?” Kokichi asked, smirks still plastered on his face. It felt nice to have somebody to show these expressions to.

“What trap?” Shuichi asked, his cap fell a bit, covering his face. Shuichi pushed it back up to reveal his face. He looked rather confused at the mention of a trap and watched the clearing for a second before his mouth opened into an “o” shape.

“So you got it?” Rantaro asked.

“Yeah, the grass colour is a bit darker than the grass around it. Don’t tell me that there’s an extra trap down there that will only react if there’s enough weight put onto there?” Shuichi whispered and as if to prove him right, one of the people following them managed to slip out of the trap without getting his body caught in the wires.

The person winced but then got up in triumph only to realize that the ground below him wasn’t solid. He let out a strangled noise as the ground below him gave out. It turned out that the 3 boys had been right, it seemed that the trap must have gotten a bit rusty over time and jammed but it did its job perfectly. From inside the hole, the person let out a pained noise that didn’t seem to bother Shuichi nor Kokichi but Rantaro glared at the hole in hatred.

“Bastards deserve it for being the group that was kidnapping kids all over the country,” Rantaro muttered. 

“We should go before somebody connects this to us,” Shuichi reasoned as he pulled on Rantaro’s sleeve. The green-haired boy’s expression was still dark but he nodded to tell Shuichi and Kokichi that he had gotten the message.

“Where do we go? If we stay here we’ll be caught but moving into the wood is even worse,” Kokichi bit the top of his thumb and then his eyes lit up. From his bag, he grabbed a very faded map and smiled in triumph as he pointed at the road they had been following up to this point. He estimated the amount of space that separated them from the small river that flowed in the same way the road was going and walked off.

Behind him, Shuichi and Rantaro were following him curiously. Kokichi had never really been one to take care of others but he felt compelled to help the 2 others. They were so incredibly nice to him and seemed to trust him. Trust was a strong word, maybe they were testing him for his personality? No, no, he couldn’t think like that anymore. Wasn’t that what caused the only other person who approached him run away from him? He would keep these friends he’d made even if it cost him more than he could offer. Friends didn’t grow on trees. Kokichi cheered when they really did find the river in the alloted time he had given himself. 

“Good job, Kichi!” Rantaro smiled and pulled the smaller boy into a hug from behind. It made Kokichi blush rather hard, most people didn’t dare touch him. His mother and father wouldn’t really give him any comfort and Kirumi was told not to get too close to him so physical contact wasn’t something he was used to. 

“We should get moving but I’m really impressed,” Shuichi smiled that warm smile he seemed to be able to show at any time. It kind of scared Kokichi how affectionate the other 2 were, well not kind of, it scared him a lot. He trembled in Rantaro’s arms but not enough to actually alert the one hugging him. Rantaro smiled and let go of him to let Kokichi lead the way.

“S-so… We just need to follow this road and we’ll be on the same track as we were before… Say Shu, Taro, where are we going?” Kokichi asked, his arms went to the back of his head. He was too scared to turn around to look at the other 2, the nicknames had escaped him by accident and he was sincerely regretting it. He could still remember the slightly shocked face Kirumi had worn when he’d called her by the nickname he had given her. He never wanted to see a shocked face on Kirumi, he just wanted to show that he… that he could be friendly too.

“Taro? How adorable, do you know the next town over? It’s shady but it’s said that they have the best information dealers out there. I must say Kichi, you really are an impressive boy, thanks to you we’ve saved the time and energy that we needed to find who would possibly search for 2 kids. Thank you,” Rantaro was smiling at him and Kokichi was beaming in his own heart. Outwardly he just returned the smile and made a “nishishishi” kind of laugh. It made his body bloom with heat and he wondered when had he gotten this pitiful that small praise like that could make him happy?

“Truly, thank you Kokichi, we’re glad to have you on our side,” Shuichi smiled and ruffled Kokichi’s hair but that was a wrong move. Immediately, Kokichi ducked down and silently starting whispering sorry over and over again.

“Kichi?” Rantaro asked in surprise.

“Ah! Sorry about that, I didn’t realize that I was doing something you didn’t like!” Shuichi crouched down in worry. 

“I’m fine Saihara-chan, let’s go,” Kokichi got up briskly and walked forwards in long strides that weren’t exactly that long since he was short. He didn't stop to turn around when he heard Shuichi fall onto the ground from the scare he got when Kokichi shot up. Kokichi wondered why couldn’t he be normal and let Shuichi ruffle his hair? So what if it reminded him of all the times his mother would yank him by his hair and throw him away from her? Exactly, it didn’t. Shuichi was kind-hearted so he wouldn’t hurt him willingly. He told himself that he really needed to calm down, being emotional was wrong after all, thanks mom, I know that kokichi grit his teeth as he thought about his mother. He could hear Shuichi gently calling out to him from behind but at the moment, his mind wasn’t going to allow him to be so weak. After all, it was one of the rules established and drilled into him.

“6 members of the Ultimate Hunt were stopped from their task of following the kids? How is that possible and with such an impossible trap,” the old man yelled, furious.

“We have no idea but there are rumours that it was a boy with a weird hairstyle,” one of the underlings replied.

“A boy? How old? Who is he? Don’t we have any information about him?” The old man asked, eyes narrowing.

“I-I’m sorry s-s-sir! He was estimated to be around 8 to 10 by his height. His face looked pretty young but none of the missing posters matched up with his description and it seemed that there hasn’t been a missing person report for a male child with a weird hairstyle that resembles the omega symbol!” The underling yelled.

“A boy with hair in an omega symbol? It can’t be… No, alright then, keep searching!” The old man groaned. 

This was bad, very bad if even that boy got involved in all this it would be much harder to catch the other 2. That boy was bad news with his upbringing that he followed to a T could cause problems but first, he had to make sure he had the right one.


	4. A Time For Questions And Laughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi gets to have some fluffy time in his non-fluffy life. (What is this summary lmao)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any typos, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

“Kichi,” Rantaro knelt down to let the smaller boy onto his back. Kokichi rubbed his eyes and let out another yawn. He shook his head at Rantaro to tell him that he still had enough strength to walk. Shuichi gave him a stern look and he shrugged before finally accepting the piggyback ride. He gasped in awe as Rantaro got up, he flailed around a bit in fear. He had never been given a piggyback ride before and it was nice.

“You’re warm,” Kokichi muttered into Rantaro’s back. He heard Shuichi chuckle and couldn’t help the small smile that plastered itself onto his face. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, growing up with such parents and such a life. He thought about it again, it was nice having people there for him. Had he been given a second chance he believes that he would do the same, run away again and cross that scary bridge all on his own. 

“Thank you, you should get some sleep,” Rantaro told him. Kokichi looked at Shuichi who was carrying Rantaro’s backpack alongside his own. He wondered why they didn’t all stop together and go to sleep instead of just letting him do so alone but he didn’t complain as he drifted into a calm sleep.

“Introduce yourself,” the teacher wasn’t smiling at him as he had to the previous transfer student. He didn’t understand why the other nameless student was still standing beside him and seemed bored. Of course, no one would want to listen to his introduction, everybody already knew who the Oma’s were. 

“My name is Oma Kokichi… I hope we can all get along!” Kokichi bowed down, earning himself a few waves of laughter. Laughter, that was a good sign, he lifted up his head with a smile only for it to drop when he realized that the laughter wasn’t aimed to be nice. They were laughing at him and pointing him with their fingers.

“Nameless Boy, go sit next Nameless Boy 2,” the teacher commanded. He didn’t even stop the other students’ blatant laughter. Kokichi felt himself shrink a bit as if the students sitting at their desks were titans whereas he was an ant.

“You, go sit at the back of the class,” the teacher muttered as if he were an afterthought. He did, he walked as quickly as he could only to be tripped by another kid. Laughter echoed through the room as he tried to get up and grab his book. A foot stomped down onto his hand which caused him to cry out in pain.

“Did you really think you could be friends with us?” Whoever it was that was sitting at the desk asked. He was so close to Kokichi, he could feel his breath in his ear and it was disturbing. He tried to get up again, pushing off the other’s foot and this time the boy let him.

“Good luck making friends Octopus hair,” one of the more childish kids laughed. Another kid slapped his shoulder as if he had made the funniest joke ever and Kokichi didn’t understand like he didn’t in his other school. Was it fun to bully others?

“It’s okay, it’s okay… This is only the first day of school,” Kokichi told himself. Things would get better, people would forget about him once they realized that doing things to him wouldn’t work. It was okay, everything would be okay. He repeated it like a mantra as the teacher started his class. Why wasn’t the teacher on his side? Why didn’t anyone realize that his family’s history didn’t define him as an individual? Why did everyone stare at him with those mocking eyes…?

“Hey, Kichi? Kichi!” He heard Rantaro call out. He blinked slowly as he woke up, the bright rays of sunshine that fell through the leaves blinded him a bit but even that was nice. He woke up fully when he saw Shuichi come back with a metal tin and look at him with that worry that Kokichi couldn’t help but think didn’t belong on his face. 

“What time is it?” Kokichi’s voice was rougher than usual and that made him giggle. He had never known his voice could sound like that. He wondered why both Rantaro and Suichi were still so worried. He felt fine and the dream he had was actually pretty decent. Had he caused trouble for them during his sleep? 

“It should be around 8 in the morning,” Rantaro replied. Shuichi was still holding that metal water bottle, his knuckles were white from how hard he was holding it. Kokichi smiled, he had slept well, it was around 3:30 when he fell asleep so he should’ve slept around 5 hours, not bad for someone like him who was an insomniac.

“Do you want some water?” Shuichi asked the hand that was holding onto the bottle extended. Kokichi nodded his head and watched as Shuichi uncapped the bottle and fed him some water. He was always so weak when he woke up from a nightmare, whether it be one more on the gentle side or one that was more on the horrifying side.

“Thank you, Shu. May I know why we stopped?” Kokichi asked, his eyes finally managed to open up to their usual size. He hadn’t realized he was thirsty until Shuichi had fed him some water. He was kind of hungry but that wasn’t as important as his question was.

“We decided to sleep here because both of us were feeling tired after having walked all morning. About ten minutes ago, you started muttering don’t laugh at me, in your sleep and started thrashing around which woke us up. We wanted to know if you were okay,” Shuichi was still worried, it was so clear on his face that it made him smile.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me Shumai!” Kokichi giggled. Concern was not something he was used to but with the way Rantaro and Shuichi were acting, he didn’t think it was a bad thing. He knew what fake concern looked like and the look both boys shared was pure genuine concern. It made him feel giddy for some unknown reason and the thought crossed his mind as if to stop him from being happy. 

“Why do you always cause trouble for everyone?” He could hear his mother ask. It didn’t matter however, he was free of her for now and he didn’t doubt it that his parents wouldn’t look for him. Kirumi might go to the police station and require help from them but he knew his parents would stifle the attempt. Maybe they would pay Kirumi a good amount of money? That would do Kirumi some good, maybe she could even enjoy herself with that money. The thought was implausible, Kokichi knew that Kirumi never took a day off just to go enjoy herself if there wasn’t someone who ordered her to.

“I have a question,” Kokichi smiled. He would derail both of their train of thoughts to something more interesting in his opinion. It wasn’t necessary for them to dwell on his past nor on his nightmares, those were things he could deal with by himself.

“A question?” Rantaro smiled at him and it made Kokichi’s heart squeeze. He noticed that both Rantaro and Shuichi were skeptical as if they already knew what his plan was before he had even gotten to the main part of it. He didn’t elt that show however and kept up his smile.

“Let’s play 21 questions. It’s a game where you ask 21 questions I think or something like that! But let’s add a little twist if you don’t want to answer then you don’t have to!!” Kokichi’s arms flew to the back of his head. His idea was great, he would get to know his friends and they would get to know him.

“If the other person refuses to answer, do we get to ask another one?” Shuichi asked, interested. Kokichi thought about it and nodded his answer, he didn’t mind an alternate question, it would be a bit unfair if one of them refused to answer all the questions asked.

“Who goes first?” Rantaro asked Kokichi was glad that they were humouring him. It was a good way to relax a bit even if they were on the run. The forest was a bit too quiet for other people to be close to them so he allowed himself to go with the flow for a bit.

“Well since Kokichi came up with the game, he could go first, Shuichi’s face was half-hidden by his cap and that kind of unsettled Kokichi.

“Hmmm! How about your birthdays?” Kokichi asked excitedly, his hands had created fists that were placed around his collarbone level.

“September 7th and I’m 12,” Shuichi replied, his face was still half-hidden and Kokichi considered maybe asking the other to take off his cap, but he wouldn’t invade someone else’s privacy for his own unsettled mind. 

“My birthday is on October 3rd, I’m the same age yet I’m younger than Shuichi, it doesn’t look like it right?” Rantaro smiled in a very contagious way. Kokichi and Rantaro both saw Shuchi smile from under his cap.

“Wait, we never decided who would go next!” Kokichi’s mouth opened into an “o”.

“Well let’s go from oldest to youngest, when’s your birthday, Kokichi?” Shuichi asked before Rantaro could protest.

“I’m actually the oldest, today is the 21rst of June right? Then, it should be my birthday, so now I’m 13! Praise your elder!” Kokichi laughed. He hadn’t thought he was older than the other 2 and in his opinion, Rantaro’s behaviour definitely did not make him look like he was younger than Shuichi even if it was only by around a month.

“My turn, what were you having a nightmare about?” Rantaro asked bluntly and Kokichi found the shocked face Shuichi made was absolutely hilarious. 

“It was my first day of school,” Kokichi smiled. He made sure not divulge too much information and felt kind of guilty. He hadn’t told them the entire story and it kind of was a lie since it wasn’t his very first day of school but at the same time, it held some truth since it was the first day since he’d transferred schools.

“That bad?” Shuichi winced as if he knew exactly how Kokichi felt. Maybe the boy did and Kokichi just didn’t know it.

“Yeah, it was a rather disturbing thing for an 8 years old to go through I guess. Now then, why and who are you guys running from? I gather the people from the Ultimate Hunt aren’t the only ones chasing after you?,” Kokichi shrugged at the first question.

“Only one question,” Shuichi smirked causing Kokichi to blow a raspberry at him. Kokichi settled on the why part of his questions and made Kokichi and Rantaro aware of it.

“I see, that is indeed a good question. We’re not too sure about it ourselves, the only thing I remember the most which should probably explain why we were running was our time imprisoned somewhere. It seems that both Shuichi and I have lost our memories when we ran away but since then whenever that group chases after us, we will run away,” Rantaro grimaced at his unclear explanation but Kokichi knew he wasn’t lying. 

“Why did you run away from home?” Shuichi asked. Had Kokichi told them that he was running away from home? He wasn’t too clear anymore and he wondered why that was, the events had only transpired yesterday night and earlier this morning yet he was already unsure of the things he had said.

“To avoid my maid who keeps a strict eye on me,” Kokichi also grimaced. It wasn’t the full truth but it wasn’t a full lie either. He reasoned to himself that it was fine. Kirumi would forgive him for using her in this way… probably?

“You have a maid?” Rantaro gasped in surprise. Kirumi wasn’t his maid but he liked to think of it that way since it was basically her purpose in his household. At least he thinks that’s what his parents paid Kirumi for on top of being his caretaker. She did the laundry and other stuff that he was pretty sure other caretakers didn’t do.

“Yes, now then what will my question be?” Kokichi smiled at a flustered Rantaro. The youngest was debating that it the question he had asked wasn’t the one he had meant it to be but it was too late.

“What is your final goal?” Kokichi asked, his left eyebrow was arched. He knew that both of them probably didn’t know but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. He himself had no idea what his goal was.

“Safety,” both Shuichi and Rantaro said at the same time, surprising Kokichi and themselves. Their expressions were serious and it surprised Kokichi. He had never really thought about it but now that he did, the idea of safety was comforting to him too.

“We should sleep,” Shuichi mutter as he yawned. Rantaro nodded and Kokichi approved. He cuddled Shuichi because he was the closest. Shuichi didn’t mind his presence and that seemed to have comforted Kokichi as he managed to sleep in broad daylight.

The next he woke up, it was noon. Both Shuichi and Rantaro were still sleeping so he took the opportunity to go to the river to take a bath. The forest was unfrequented because it was near a mostly unused highway. The official park had already been passed and this section wasn’t recommended to those who either knew or didn’t know the place well. Kokichi couldn’t remember why but then again he doubted someone would pop out of nowhere. At least that’s what he hoped as he quickly took a dip. From his dirty bag, he grabbed a seemingly intact small hand towel and used it to dry himself. He was lucky that none of the 2 woke up or else he’d have to explain all those ugly scars that littered his body.

“Took a shower I see,” Rantaro grumbled as he woke up. Kokichi’s hair was still wet and he shook his head to soak Rantaro. Instead, he ended up waking up Shuichi who bumped his head against the trees he was leaning on with a startle. That made both other boys burst out laughing. Kokichi hadn’t felt so happy in the presence of other humans in a long time and it felt special to him. 

“We should get going,” Shuichi finally calmed down and mustered his best glare to look at Kokichi. It was a pitiful attempt, mainly ruined by the small smile that had was hanging on his lips as he said it. It made both Kokichi and Rantaro burst out laughing again. In the end, they did leave that place but not before they had a few plants and fruits to eat, courtesy of Rantaro’s knowledge. Kokichi had joked to him that he was the Ultimate Survivor which had gained and un unexpected and unexplained look from Rantaro.

It took them 5 more hours before they came across a house. The forest had stopped a while back but that wasn’t important. Kokichi marveled at the sight of the farm animals trotting or sleeping on the land owned by those farmers. His eyes twinkled, this was his first time seeing a real-life horse out in the open. He had seen cows before but he wasn’t too sure, had he even ever been to a zoo? The idea was implausible, who would even bring him to a zoo?

“Do you like horses?” Shuichi asked, leaning against the fence next to Kokichi. Rantaro was looking around, something about making sure they were on the right road. He kind of looked like a tourist, with his backpack and the map in his hands.

“Yes I do, I mean, I have the character horse in my name,” Kokichi giggled and watched as the boy with the cap smile at this optimism. It was a nice feeling, it almost felt like they were a family. He blushed at the thought and shook his head bitterly. “You can’t choose your family,” he muttered to himself, too low for Shuichi to catch.

“Alright guys, we should get there in about 2 hours if we keep walking. Last push guys and we’ll make it to our first town together!” Rantaro turned around and waved the map at them as he shouted. Both Kokichi and Shuichi got up and went to Rantaro.

“Say, Taro,” Kokichi asked, skipping alongside Shu and Taro.

“Yes?” The green-haired boy looked at him.

“You’re so cute and young. Ahhhh! To be young again! Nishishi” Kokichi laughed as he ran a bit forwards. His stomach was feeling a bit empty but that was a given since they didn’t actually eat that many fruits or plants for that matter.

“But we’re only 5 months apart?” Rantaro yelled at Kokichi as the other ran quicker and quicker. The feeling of the wind in his hair made him laugh out loud. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was running and fell. The ground as he made contact of it reminded him of grits and that terrified him. He shrieked and flailed even if he should’ve been more concerned about his scraped kneecaps and palms.

“Kichi? Kokichi?” Shuichi and Rantaro both yelled as they bolted over.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” He got up, dusted himself off only to finally realized in what state he was. His kneecaps no longer had fabric covering them and when he had dusted himself off, he had only spread the blood that had welled up in his hands.

“Don’t move,” Shuichi hissed as he grabbed Rantaro’s backpack and rifled through it. He came out with a small first aid kit. Kokichi did as told and didn’t even wince as Suichi wiped off his knees with an alcohol wipe. Even Rantaro winced at how bad it looked, a few smaller rocks were lodged in the wound and without thinking about it, he bent down and picked them out.

“Kichi?” Rantaro asked, shuddering at the sight.

“I told you guys I was fine, I have a high pain tolerance,” Kokichi giggled and made a small peace sign. It hurt a bit more than he liked to admit it but hey, showing pain would only leave to more pain. He reasoned to himself the same way his mother did whenever he cried or screamed in pain. He kind of did have a high pain tolerance but it hadn’t always been like that.

Shuichi looked uncertainly at him but ended up grabbing a roll of gauze, nodded to himself uncertain, wondering if he was doing the right thing as he wrapped it around Kokichi’s wounds. By the time he was done, Kokichi positively told him that he looked like a cute mummy and promised to pay attention to where he was going from now on.

“Kichi…” Rantaro was about to say something but the sharp look Shuichi sent him was enough of a deterrent. 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. I’ll, uuuuhm… tell you guys as soon as I can,” Kokichi answered. Shuichi nodded at him while Rantaro just stood there. After a while of silence, as they walked, Kokichi finally decided to reveal a piece of himself. His dream, he told himself, could maybe, just maybe bring them closer together. It might also break them apart, with the strong reactions that his classmates had, he wouldn’t be surprised if they abandoned him. He wouldn’t blame them and strangely, he felt like he could trust them, even if they were to abandon him, he told himself that at least he had enjoyed their friendship up until then and so, he began his story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Instagram (isaac_not_newton3) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me.
> 
> P-S: Do these notes all end up on the last page or they appear separately? Because for me sometimes they look like they appear together and sometimes they're separated by chapter. Thank you for reading!


	5. A Trip Backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi isn't doing too well and it's showing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.
> 
> *Also, I feel like this chapter is particularly dark at one point of it so trigger warning for the italicized part of the story*

He should’ve omitted the part where everyone’s personality had switched when he had told them their name. He watched as Shuichi’s face filled at disgust at him, he couldn’t see Rantaro’s expression as he stared at the ground. Just what had possessed him to reveal the truth to them?

“Hahaha! Did you see your faces? Those were the best reactions I’ve seen in a while since!” Kokichi laughed. He watched as Rantaro gave a confused look at Shuichi while Shuichi just stared at the boy and shook his head. Shuichi definitely knew about his lie and now he was going to leave him alone because he wasn’t worth it. He must know what his name implies, he could see his classmates’ judging eyes trailing on him again. He hated it, the thought that they would stare at him like that.

“Kokichi Ouma,” Shuichi said and it reminded him of something his classmates had said. When your parents were angry they would call you by your full name, he wondered if Shuichi was going to scold him verbally. That… that would remind him of Kirumi too much, he wondered, what was Kirumi doing at the moment?

“Kokichi,” Rantaro said his first name in a while. Where had the nickname gone? He really should’ve kept his mouth shut, just how pitiful even was he? Such an attention jacking rat, he giggled at the thought. Bad coping mechanisms, making yourself laugh and disassociate yourself from the world. Was that even how you were supposed to use that word?

“That would be me, I’m the one and only child of 2 of the most stunning and beautiful specimens that were known to men! Ahahahah, one of them loves me like there’s no tomorrow and the other one beats the living shit out of me! I killed my brother for the sake of being accepted and all that did was place me on the top of a mafia gang that I never wanted to be the head of! And now? I’m going to have to kill the both of you, you know too much,” Kokichi said but didn’t even make a move. He wasn’t even sure how much had been a lie, too busy blubbering whatever he wanted to, this was going to seal the deal. They’d have realized it by now that Kokichi was weak and that they didn’t need him anymore.

“What kind of past do you even have? That must have been horrible, if you want to talk about it, Ichi and I are always here to help but this town isn’t somewhere you should reveal your own secrets in,” Rantaro gave him the most gentle smile he had ever seen on him, a veil of sadness glinted in his eyes and Kokichi wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“I know it’s hard, but it would be nice if you could consider us as your brothers from now on,” Shuichi told him as they approached a stone house.

“From now on, let us do the talking. It could get dangerous,” Rantaro warned, face full of relief when Kokichi nodded.

“In here, Shuichi is Ichi, I’m Survivor and you can choose your own nickname but don’t forget it,” Rantaro had approached Kokichi and was now whispering into his ear.

“Tako,” Kokichi replied. He watched as Shuichi made the immediate link while Rantaro got it a beat later. Both of them chuckled at his choice of a nickname and that made Kokichi proud of himself. The only one who had ever chuckled at him was Kirumi and then again, she never kept that face up for too long.

“Here goes nothing,” Shuichi mumbled as he knocked on the wooden door to the old stone building.

“Well hello, dearies!” An old woman cracked the wooden door open. It made a creaking noise and Kokichi wondered just how many years had that door not been lubed up properly.

“Granny Tripledosecardamome,” both Shuichi and Rantaro said at the same time. Kokichi was impressed at the granny’s name. It sounded like a tongue twister and he didn’t really want to know what her last name was. He felt like it could give him a headache.

“I see, you have come to visit them,” the granny shook her head as she made her way to the fireplace. A very well hidden lever was cranked to the other side and Kokichi watched, impressed as the behind of it cranked up and left an opening big enough for an adult male of a decent size to fit into.

“Kimchi, can you put on your scarf? I know it’s dirty but I don’t want people recognizing you,” Shuichi asked, Kokichi put it on obediently. It wasn’t particularly dirty but it definitely was faded. Shuichi pulled down his cap so that you could barely see his face while Rantaro just didn’t do anything.

“Thank you Tsu,” Rantaro smiled at the granny.

“You’re welcome, now tell me! Who’s the new blood?” The granny asked, saliva coming out of her mouth.

“My name is Tako, I can read your mind, ” Kokichi introduced himself when he realized that Shuichi wasn’t about to speak for him. Rantaro had already disappeared into the fireplace.

“Tako! How adorable! Ichi and Survivor will tell you my name later I believe. Good luck in there,” the granny named Tsu sent them a condescending smile before she waved at them.

“Tako, follow me,” Shuichi said as he went into the fireplace. Kokichi followed suit and let out a shriek as the ground became unstable and he slipped, falling onto his back. He heard Shuichi ask something in the darkness but Kokichi couldn’t hear him as he kept shrieking. Above him, he could hear the fireplace’s movable back come back down, cutting off the last of the source of light that Kokichi had relied on.

“Ichi!” Kokichi screamed when he felt something grab his foot.

“Hey calm down, it’s just a slide!” Shuichi yelled back.

“A-a slideeeee?” Kokichi asked, suddenly calming down. He knew what a slide was but this was his first time on one. Kirumi was not allowed to let him play in the park, no matter how much he begged so the closest he had ever gotten to one was watching the other kids play on them from afar. Now that he had calmed down, he could feel his excitement reach its peak. It was exhilarating, Kokichi had never known that it would feel like he was falling if he went on a slide. He giggled and laughed as he went the entire way down.

“Are you okay?” Rantaro asked, both of his hands were on the sides of the slide and he was leaning over Kokichi, way too close to his face.

“I’m doing horrible! Thank you for asking,” Kokichi’s face turned into a sad one but it was one that he liked to use when he lied.

“Don’t lie to me,” Rantaro’s eyes narrowed and suddenly, Kokichi realized that there was a source of light coming from the end of the slide. A single lightbulb dangled over the tiny square room that contained all 3 of them.

Shuichi was pressing the buttons on a keypad. Once the door flew open, Rantaro finally got off of Kokichi and so the shortest followed. The first thing he registered was the chaos that came from inside the room. It seemed that most of them were whispering but there were also those who were practically screaming. He placed the latter behaviour on the bar on the right side of the room. Nobody so much as turned around when they went in and closed the door behind them. Both Rantaro and Shuichi walked confidently to a table for 4 with a reserved sign. A waitress came over, picked up the reserved sign and dropped down 4 menus before walking off.

“Wow,” Kokichi marveled at all the different people gathered there. He looked around and was impressed by the masks, scarves and just about everything that could cover up their face. The door unlocked again and Kokichi watched as a guy with hair that would be recognizable everywhere walked in. Shuichi waved the guy who started jogging over with a cheerful expression.

“Ichi! Survivor!” The guy laughed.

“Luminary of the stars,” Shuichi greeted, there was a hint of a smile on his face.

“Hello Kai,” Rantaro abstained himself from saying the other’s entire name.

“How have you been? It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you. Did you guys pick up another one along the way?” Kaito asked. Kokichi wondered what Kai was implying by another, had both of them done this before? He should’ve known, of course, he wasn’t special. He was just one among many others.

“I have no idea what you’ve heard Lumi but he’s the first one we picked up,” Shuichi’s left eyebrow shot up, something only Kokichi could see from his angle. Kokichi felt the unhappy bubble die down inside of him, why was he so even so relieved to learn that?

“We’ve been fine,” Rantaro replied, nodding at Shuichi’s sentence and smiling at Kokichi reassuringly.

“What about you?” Kokichi asked, startling Luminary. Kokichi wondered if the other guy thought he was mute.

“Who are you?” Kaito asked, visibly confused at his presence.

“Tako,” Kokichi introduced himself. There was something in the back of his mind, something about him not supposed to be the one doing the talking. He sat back into his chair immediately, eyes opened wide and gazing everywhere that wasn’t either Rantaro nor Shuichi’s face. Kokichi didn’t have time to watch Shuichi and Rantaro’s face before he felt the air thinning out in the room. The voices that had previously become white noise was suddenly suffocating him and he couldn’t understand what was happening. He was sweating yet he couldn’t tell whether he was hot or cold.

_“So, defying the rules again, aren’t we?” His father asked, a sadistic grinned had painted itself onto his face and Kokichi was cowering in one of the corners of the room. He remembered that behind his father, the door was in plain sight. What if he could just run past his father and reach the other side of the door. There was no way he could outrun his father so that was a useless hope that he had._

_“If you manage to get out of this room before the timer hits 20 minutes, I’ll let you go an entire month and you can do whatever you want,” his father proposed. It was entirely too tempting to an eight years old child. Whatever he wanted for an entire month? He felt as if his father had told him that he could be free and that was probably the gist of it._

_Kokichi had fallen for the trap easier than a mouse would go for cheese. Liberty? Just how could he not choose that option? He remembered getting up on shaky legs, wincing as his back rubbed against the wall behind him and charged for the door. His father swatted him so easily, Kokichi went flying right back into the wall he used as support previously._

_“That’s too bad, get up and try again,” his father said. Kokichi got up again, he would make it to that door no matter what. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the window and wondered why he hadn’t tried it before._

_“I glued the window shut,” his father had answered before he could even try._

_It disgusted him nowadays how much effort he had put into that day. Near the end of the time limit, Kokichi had managed to get past his father and reached the door. He had felt incredibly euphoric, finally, the one time where he had managed to get past his father and the door. He must’ve been bleeding from just about everywhere on his body. Hit the doorknob one too many times? Check and honestly, now that Kokichi looked back, he wondered just how most of his cuts had even appeared._

_He remembers opening the door, ready to call out for Kirumi only to see his mother standing in front of the door as if she were waiting for him. Then, his childish brain had pieced it all together, especially when he heard his father laugh and the sound of a window cracking open. He felt the gentle breeze blow through his hair and remembered taking step forward, grasping onto his mother’s skirt and begging to be let go, begging that he would follow the rules, begging that he understood, screaming that the would be good and watched as his mother gave him a gentle smile._

_Hope and a little bit of dread had filled him then because his mother never smiled at him like that. He watched as his mother moved closer and watched as he fell backwards, back into the room he had escaped from. It took him exactly half of the fall to figure out that his mother’s outstretched arm hadn’t been meant to caress him, it was there to push him back where his father would certainly be waiting. He scrambled upwards as his mother closed the door, face back to its usual one filled with disgust. Begging had done nothing for him so he’d tried anger._

_“That’s a good emotion, son… but you need to be strong to actually intimidate people you know?” His father had asked, taking a drag of his cigarette. The rays of sunshine that beat down onto his father’s face made Kokichi want them to burn him but like everything else he wished for, they didn’t._

_“I’m sorry, please! Just let me go!” Kokichi had cried then, completely breaking down at that point. It hadn’t been worth it and he realized the true lesson of this all. He shouldn’t have let his guard down, no matter how much he wanted to believe. Kokichi was too soft for the life that his parents had planned for him and he was always terribly aware of it but he couldn’t see how he could improve. He had tried everything to make himself stronger but it didn’t work. He could never train for long thanks to the poor state of his body and any attempts at eating only healthy meals were thwarted by Kirumi who’d always spoil him whenever she could. Kokichi was blatantly aware of that and always tried to thank the maid whenever she was there but it didn’t help the small pangs of jealousy that filled him._

_At one point, he had even been desperate enough that he had almost wanted Kirumi to take his place and the idea had made him gag. He thought about it, Kirumi definitely wouldn’t have agreed but it was still terrifying to think of Kirumi in his place. He wouldn’t let anything happen to the kind girl no matter what happened, after all, Kirumi was definitely destined for a bright future whereas his was cloudy and full of disappointment. He had repressed the thought then and there and had sworn to himself that he would never allow himself to sink that low ever again._

_No matter what Kokichi told himself, Kirumi was the only one who he had considered a friend up to that point. He couldn’t let anyone harm his only friend, that would have been incredibly immoral of him to do so he kept it and up until his 13th birthday, he had kept Kirumi away from all the harm done to him. He wondered if Kirumi even knew that he was suffering through this and found that he desperately wanted her not to. He wanted to keep his mental image of her as a good part of life and with difficulty, realized that he wanted her to be…_

_“Then, give me your arm,” his father had laughed then, distraught, Kokichi had forgotten all about Kirumi. His father’s laugh was something small Kokichi had hated and definitely been incredibly scared of, handing his father his arm so quickly he thought it might’ve snapped off like a doll’s arm._

_He watched as his father lowered the cigarette and remembered the painful screams that filled that rare small room with a window in their house. He wondered, what would have happened had he retaliated and hit his finger out of anger instead of passing out like the weakling that he was._

“Thank you Lumi for the information,” Rantaro was smiling at Kaito and snapped his head around when Shuichi rugged at his sleeve. Kokichi was trembling against his chair but not enough to be particularly noticeable. Rantaro had nodded then and was just about to tell Kaito that they had to leave but Kaito beat him to it.

“No problem but he really looks like the boy Kirumi called about,” Kaito had whispered into their ears. Kokichi made a noncommittal noise and seemed to perk up that tiny bit.

“Is she a maid?” Shuichi asked, voice spilling with interest.

“Ha, so you know her? Well, that’s surprising, she told me that recently the boy she was taking care of ran away. She wouldn’t tell me who or why she was searching for him but she did tell me to ring her if she saw somebody that might fit the description,” Kaito’s eyebrow shot up.

“You can’t do that!” Kokichi had yelled louder than necessary but he didn’t look like he was fully there, more like he was very far away and was slowly coming back from somewhere. He was gasping as if he had just woken up from a bad dream and his eyes were wider than usual, a scared expression adorned his face as he repeated his sentence, more gently this time.

He hadn’t yelled loud enough to attract everyone’s attention but it was better to be cautious. Shuichi asked if he could pick up Kokichi and waited patiently for the sluggish boy to reply with a nod. Both Shuichi and Rantaro were concerned but this wasn’t the best time to be distracted. Not with so many informants and information seeker were so close to them. Kaito has been shaken up by Kokichi’s behaviour but had promised he wouldn’t tell anyone about Kokichi’s reaction to Kirumi. They didn’t have any ways to prove he’d keep his words but they were left with the only assurance that Kaito was their friend. Rantaro and Shuichi have both said their goodbyes before they had left, Kokichi in Shuichi’s arms.

“Hey, Kokichi?” Shuichi asked he was carrying the boy like how he would carry a child. Rantaro gently brushed a strand or two from Kokichi’s face and shook his head at Shuichi. The oldest had fallen asleep. A debate about leaving Kokichi in a hotel happened and in the end, Rantaro won. They needed information and it would be quicker if they didn’t have Kokichi with them when they did.

They paid the first motel they saw, it didn’t look too shabby but it was definitely different from the amazing looking hotels across the street. Shuichi had kissed Kokichi in the top of his head as he had put the boy down onto the king-sized bed before he and Rantaro had left the hotel. It was a bad move and both of them were aware of it but survival was also at stake here. If they didn’t move soon, the Ultimate Hunt would find them again and the idea pleased none of them. Sadly, Kokichi woke up to an empty hotel room feeling extremely dizzy. He got up, threw his legs over the bed and tried to stumble towards where he assumed the bathroom was. He didn’t make it very far before he collapsed, he had managed to crawl the rest of his way into the bathroom and had wretched into the bowl. He flushed the toilet, feeling sick again as he watched everything go down the drain, it scared him how he thought he could see blood in the mix, it reminded him of things he didn’t want to dig up.

He had gone to the sink and washed his mouth, grabbing a toothbrush and brushed his teeth until he was bleeding a bit. Once he was done with cleansing himself, he had felt mentally exhausted as he flopped his way onto the bed. Except, Kokichi never made it to the bed and instead collapsed in the middle of the motel room, panting harshly as he tried to muster enough energy to get up.

“You’re weak and I don’t have any faith in you getting stronger,” he could hear his mother sigh as she shook her head. She didn’t get to say that you don’t betray your kid like that and get to speak that way.

“I’m sorry, mother,” and even then, Kokichi realized just how bad everything he was. The woman wasn’t even here to torment him yet all he could do was nod to the voice of his mother ringing in his head.

He wouldn’t see the worried faces of Rantaro and Shuichi when they came back into the room. He didn’t get to see them fuss over him. He wouldn’t even notice them when they dried his hair for him and he definitely wouldn’t know that both boys had cuddled up against him on their bed for the night as he gently snoring in his sleep. He wouldn’t know any of that until the next morning when a hand would smack his face gently and a muffled sorry would be muttered as they slept. That was all for tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Instagram (isaac_not_newton3) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.
> 
> I haven't been posting much because I'm also drawing and because of school. I've only drawn Witch's Heart on my accounts however so lmao. I'm probably going to try to draw Sou next on Instagram. Also, I think I fixed the endnotes but I'm not too sure if it worked?
> 
> ;-;


	6. Recurring Memories With A Knife In Tow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They spoil him but is it for his sake or for theirs?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello there, I would like to say happy birthday to Nykoryto! I hope this chapter is okay since I saw your message only a while ago and I hope it turned out fine lmao, consider this your birthday gift from me XD. 
> 
> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

_“Does it ever occur to you that some people care for you?” A figure shrouded in mystery asked. The figure's stance reminded him of a statue, he barely ever moved unless he was going to jot down anything. It got on his nerves sometimes how cold the _ _ other person was. _

_“Huh? Who would ever care for me? My parents don’t care about me, maybe there is someone but what could they do about it?” The answer came immediately. _

_“Alright then, what about your new-found friends?” _

_“_ _What about them? It doesn’t matter, I know how people are, they just pretend to care for you and then they will toss you aside,” the answer came out incredibly bitter. The person’s expression changed from one of professionalism to one of pity. He didn’t need to see the other person’s face to know that everybody thought the same about him. He wasn’t as pitiful as they thought the was! _

_“Alright, tell me, why does a ten years old kid think like this?” Whoever it was put down the object they were holding and leaned forward as if to close the distance between them. He moved his chair backward to avoid that from happening. _

_“I’m not ten, I’m older now,” he answered, it wasn’t the right answer and he knew it but he could tell that whoever it was that was sitting in front of him had just done something completely out of the blue. Something told him that the object he had just put down was supposed to always remain in those hands._

_!Is that so? Well, it sure doesn’t feel like it does it?” The figure asked and got up. he also got up, was it time to leave? But the figure wasn’t walking towards the door, it was walking towards him. He backed up until he came in contact with the wall and then froze. _

_“Leave me alone and get away from me!” He screamed, the figure stopped moving for about half a second before it picked up speed and came closer. Just a bit more and the light would shine upon their face and he would know who they were. Somehow, he felt like even without the light he should’ve known who it was but he couldn't for the life of him remember who he was._

Silence, he woke up to two human heaters on either side of him. Kokichi didn’t remember slipping back into his bed, in fact, he barely remembered much from last night. For a fact, he knew he had done something wrong and he knew what it was but he also felt like his mistake had been pardoned in some ways.

He heard rustling and turned towards the right, Rantaro stirred in his sleep and before he could move, Rantaro’s arms shot out to pull him closer to him and cuddle. He let out a sharp yelp and was surprised when the other two didn’t wake up from it. He wasn’t used to this warmth but now that Rantaro had him cuddled up against him, Kokichi wasn’t too sure he ever wanted the other to let go. Shuichi shifted this time but instead of pulling him in for a hug, Shuichi got up and zombied his way into the bathroom and locked the door. Kokichi giggled a bit, he had never expected the serious Shuichi to become a zombie in the morning. 

“Hmmm,” Rantaro sounded like he was thinking even in his sleep and that also made Kokichi giggle. He wasn’t too sure what was making him so giddy first thing in the morning but knew that Rantaro and Shuichi were the cause of it. He allowed himself to snuggle into Rantaro’s cuddle and reasoned that if Rantaro asked than Kokichi was going to say that he couldn’t escape from his grip.

The shower went off then, reminding Kokichi that he also needed one. He was ready to get back up, removing the covers from himself before pulling them back over himself. It was incredibly cold without the warmth of the blanket and so Kokichi decided that he wanted to sleep in Rantaro’s arms a bit longer. What he didn’t respect however was for him to fall asleep and wake up to cold water dripping down onto his face. With a startled cry, he untangled himself from Rantaro’s limbs and glared at Shuichi’s smiling face.

“Good morning,” the other greeted him, he was wearing a t-shirt that was probably more meant for yesterday’s guy to wear than him.

“New clothes,” was apparently the only thing that Kokichi was able to reply to Shuichi. The shocked look he got made him blush from embarrassment and turn his head away. Then to make matters worse, Shuichi just exploded into laughter that Kokichi hadn’t thought possible for the other to make. Shuichi was laughing to the point where he doubled over and ended up waking Rantaro. However, the green-haired male’s awakening wasn’t one of confusion, he sprung up and looked like he was ready to fight whoever it was until his attention finally focused on the Shuichi who had almost stopped laughing at this point.

“I heard new clothes?” Rantaro asked and then both Shuichi and Kokichi glanced at each other which ultimately lead them into a laughing fit. They laughed at both Rantaro’s confused face and those words he uttered that weren’t very funny per se but it made their day.

“Ahahaha... Kokichi, go take a shower,” Shuichi smiled tenderly at Kokichi. The shorter one’s eyes widened in surprise before he nodded and scurried off into the bathroom. From there, he locked the door and noticed the change of clothing that awaited him. As he stripped, he was very well aware of all the cuts and bruises that littered his body. 

“You’re so very ugly,” Kokichi whispered and his eyes narrowed at the plethora of wounds that littered his body. He did as he always did and touched the purple bruise on his stomach and winced. 

“You won’t get stronger without pain,” he could hear his father speak again and he nodded to himself twice. He wouldn’t do it ever again, he wouldn’t let his parents control him. Lies, even as he told himself that, he knew they were lies. He was still terrified of them, they could find him anytime they wanted to, he assumed the main reason they hadn’t yet was because there were more pressing issues to resolve. 

“Shuichi, we shouldn’t do that,” he heard Rantaro say and as much as he wanted to pry, Kokichi couldn’t do such a thing to those who were so gentle to him. He had pieced it together, he was pretty sure he had fallen down in the middle of the room or so and then Rantaro and Shuichi had tucked him into bed. He wanted to ask where they were when he woke up but also didn’t want to cause trouble. After all, weren’t they here right now? They didn’t need to tell him everything and he was sure there were things he didn’t need to know either. 

He opened the shower curtains and took his shower as slowly as he could to allow Rantaro and Shuichi the time to discuss whatever it was that had sounded so important. He took his time and wondered if the motel's shampoo could destroy his hairstyle. Once he was done and dried himself with a towel, he came to the conclusion that his hair would remain this perfect no matter what. They looked soft and if there was anything he was proud of, it would be his hair. They were soft and he loved to play with them but at the moment, he did suppose Rantaro would want to use the bathroom so he hurried out of there.

“Ah, thank you Kokichi,” Rantaro smiled, passed a hand through his wet hair and went into the bathroom while shaking his hand.

“These clothes are too big, I always tell Kaito to bring us smaller sized clothing but he always says that it’s fine,” Shuichi mumbled as he pulled one side of his shirt up so that it covered his shoulder again. Kokichi wasn’t doing any better, his own clothes were way too big. 

“Who’s Kaito?” Kokichi asked but he already knew that Kaito was the Luminary of the stars.

“The guy we met yesterday,” Shuichi answered, catching a towel that Rantaro randomly threw at him.

“The one with the really recognizable hairstyle?” Kokichi asked and yelped as Shuichi yanked him onto the bed where he was sitting. Shuichi started drying his hair with the towel, the motel didn’t have a hairdryer so Rantaro had thrown a towel and motioned at Shuichi to dry Kokichi’s hair. 

“I think it would be the same for you,” Shuichi replied as the sound of Rantaro’s shriek came through.

“Oh, did I use all the hot water?” Kokichi winced at the thought of causing even more trouble for them.

“He deserves it, most of the time he’s the one who uses it all and trust me, he’s the first one to go in,” Shuichi shivered as if recalling a bad memory. Kokichi also shivered at the thought of cold water greeting him but it wasn’t because of the shower he was thinking more like being locked out of the house while it was raining kind of cold water.

“Say Shuichi, how long have you been going from town to town with Rantaro?” Kokichi asked, voice getting caught off every now and then when Shuichi’s movement got a bit too rough.

“We’ve known each other since we were able to play together, which was around when we were six?” Shuichi asked as if Kokichi could confirm the thought.

“Oh, that’s cool, I wish I had somebody that I knew since I was six,” Kokichi said pensively.

“Huh, you must have had friends at school, no?” He felt Shuichi flinch as he said that but didn’t give Shuichi the time to wallow about it.

“I did, that person was incredibly nice to me! They brought me everywhere I had never been to and then I pulled out a gun on him and shot him. After all, he was after my family’s treasure and I couldn’t allow him to do such a thing,” Kokichi said. He realized then and there that his abilities to lie had never decreased. Shuichi’s hands stilled and in a shaking voice, he asked if it was real.

“It’s a lie, Saihara-chan!” Kokichi grinned and then grimaced as Shuichi shoved his head forward in retaliation for having been lied to.

“Ouma-kun,” Shuichi replied, pouting a bit. Kokichi had never found emotion an interesting thing but as he saw Shuichi’s face turns into a pout, Kokichi was captivated. He had never thought that such an expression existed. The ones he was used to were those of anger, his own sadness and pity from all those he knew had a tiny bit of compassion for him. The name stung a bit, he didn’t like his last name but as Shuichi said it, he found out that he minded a lot less had anyone else said it.

“Or is it,” he laughed as Shuichi gave him another shove. He didn’t know what it was like to have a brother but he supposed it would kind of be something like this. The actual story was much more different than what he had told Shuichi.

The person really had brought him everywhere and really had been incredibly nice but Kokichi figured out by accident that the person was getting paid to do it. When he had confronted the other about it, they had just told him that even they didn’t want to do it but that it paid a lot. The next day, the boy didn’t show up at school and a week later, his body had been found in a ditch. He was identified as a guy working under the enemy. When he inquired about it, his father’s only response had been that it was his fault and that he shouldn’t have allowed someone to gain his trust so easily. He had never really made a friend after that, only random children of high families that would like to make a deal with his family.

Kokichi could practically smell the fear that exuded from their pores. Just talking to him, even if he was rather tiny compared to them, instilled fear into them. Then there were his more courageous peers that took a liking to beat him up. Everything had been fine as far as he was concerned about but now that he was facing Shuichi, he could feel just how wrong his upbringing had been. Kokichi learned rather quickly and he was grateful for that.

“Say, why did you collapse?” Shuichi asked and perked up when he heard Rantaro pull on the shower curtains while grumbling something that they couldn’t hear.

“Pregnancy symptoms,” Kokichi replied without batting an eyelash. He turned around in time to see the outrageous expression on Shuichi’s face before he burst out laughing.

“I should’ve reacted sooner,” Shuichi buried his face into his palms. Taking pity on him, Kokichi told him that he had felt sick but didn’t explain why and had puked before he had passed out.

“You what? Should we get you a doctor?” Shuichi asked, his hand flailed around helplessly and ended up hitting Kokichi’s back by accident. The scream Kokichi had let out made Rantaro come out of the shower at top speed.

“What’s going on?” Rantaro asked, panting. His hair dripped onto the floor and his eyes were wide open.

“Everything is fine, he just surprised me, that’s all,” Kokichi lied. His face was scrunched up in pain but it was thankfully hidden by his hair. In a split second, he shook the expression off of his face and shot back up, startling Rantaro and hitting Shuichi’s head by accident.

“I’m fine, don’t apologize,” Shuichi said but Kokichi still did.

“Man, you scared me. I thought somebody was attacking us or something,” Rantaro sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

“Well, now that both of us are here, let’s give him those,” Shuichi said. Kokichi watched as Shuichi and Rantaro grabbed a huge paper bag and pulled it out from under the bed. How Kokichi hadn’t noticed the bag, he wasn’t too sure but he knew that he hadn’t kicked it while Shuichi was drying his hair so it probably had been stuffed quite in the middle.

Kokichi tilted his head as he watched Shuichi pull out of the paper bag his old backpack and handed it to him. He took it and opened it, there was nothing in it anymore and he started to panic. Had he dropped Kirumi’s present? Just how clumsy could one person be.

“Whoa! Don’t panic, your stuff is all in your new bag,” Rantaro smiled as he took out an exact replica of his old backpack and handed it to him. He took it and confirmed the contents of the backpack.

“Thank you very much, but what’s the occasion?” Kokichi asked, eyes narrowing at Rantaro.

“Was it not your birthday yesterday?” Rantaro asked and smiled when Kokichi’s face lit up with realization. Then, he started to panic when the smaller boy started crying.

“Birthday gift?” Kokichi asked as if he couldn’t even fathom the idea that anyone would possibly give him a gift.

“Yes and here’s mine,” Shuichi mumbled and handed him a felt pouch, inside of it awaited 2 pens instead of one. Shuichi had bought him a less expensive pen but it felt like a diamond in Kokichi’s mind. Just the thought of them remembering his birthday would have been enough for him but this was too much. He didn’t deserve it, he threw himself into Rantaro and Shuichi’s awaiting arms, ignoring the pain and cried into their shoulders.

At that moment, Kokichi told himself that it really was nice to have brothers. He wouldn’t mind doing this all again and then froze as someone slipped something into his back pocket. Judging by the angle, it had to be Rantaro.

“Thank you very much, these really are the best presents I’ve ever gotten,” Kokichi cried as he held onto the bag and pen. Rantaro and Shuichi were smiling at him and he was truly grateful for the two. After a while, he sniffled and went to the bathroom before they had to leave. He pulled out from his back pocket the object and froze as he saw what it was. 

He wasn’t too sure if he was lying or not anymore with his tears since they had almost dried instantly the moment he had entered the bathroom. Maybe he was immune to emotion or something, Kokichi didn't know and didn't bother to make sure. But now, a different emotion filled him as he stared at the pocket knife with fear visible in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


	7. They Listen To You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The park is a good place to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.
> 
> Sorry that it took so long but I tried making it longer than usual by about 2k.  
Also this is messier I think cuz it’s written on my phone, do forgive me XD.

He’s hyper-aware of the fact that he’s not where he’s supposed to be anymore. He’s at the entrance of a school that he could swear he’s been to before but at the same time, it feels like he shouldn’t have. He’s walking, aware of the fact that he should be running for whatever reason but he can’t so he does the closest thing to it, he walks. Well, he does suppose that skipping might be quicker but he’s not in the right mindset to do something that childish at the moment. There’s a presence following him but it’s silent so he knows he must be imagining it.

His footsteps echoed as he pushed the door open and went in, trembling at the gust of wind that blew as the door slammed shut behind him. Logically, no one is following him but he can’t shake the feeling off, it’s stuck with him and it makes him sick, the idea that someone would stalk him. He hates it, can’t he be allowed to go somewhere without somebody reporting back his actions to his parents?

He turns left and spots the bright pink staircase that awaits him, kind of hard to miss. He knows that if he were to be logical, he would not go into an enclosed space when someone is chasing him but something tells him to go up so he does. He’s out of breath by the time he makes it to the fifth floor, at least he hoped he hadn’t messed up his count. There are no noises that could possibly suggest that somebody is following him but he knows better than to trust his ears.

There’s a door that reminds him a bit of an exit so he opens it, instead of the outside world he expected to see since essentially this had to be a dream, he sees a studio. That’s when he hears it, the door protests as someone else opens it and he almost screeches. He wasn’t just tired, he was absolutely terrified as he slowly walked forward. He couldn’t run, couldn’t even scream while he could feel the presence approach him.

“You’re bleeding,” the dark figure mumbled. This wasn’t the best time to ask himself a question but he couldn’t help but wonder if that was the same figure as the one who had been holding an object in his previous dream? 

“I’m bleeding?” Kokichi asked but nothing came out and then he felt it, warm liquid dripping down his right thigh and as he looked down, he saw a patch of red bloom. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream as he watched the blood bloom on his pants.

***

He doesn’t make a sound as he jolts awake. Kokichi wasn’t even sure if he had ever fallen asleep, to begin with, but by the time he ‘woke up,’ he was on his knees, on the floor. The pocket knife had been opened, possibly by Kokichi while he wasn’t aware of it and it had slipped from his slack grasp. The knife must’ve sliced his leg because there was blood coming out of a cut and Kokichi was pretty sure nothing else could’ve caused such a wound.

“Kokichi?” He heard someone ask but he couldn’t concentrate on who it was. He was bleeding, he had to stop it before he caused unnecessary trouble to Rantaro and Shuichi especially after they had just pampered him with gifts. He didn’t deserve them and now he was trying to cause more headaches for them? That was a no-no. He looked at the wound and winced when he tried moving his leg. The knife had sliced deeper than he had imagined and blood was slowly coming pouring out. He wasn’t too sure what he could use in the motel except for the toilet paper so he went for that option. 

It was a bad choice he soon realized, the toilet paper stuck to his skin and caused even more trouble as he tried to peel off the pieces of soaked paper. He winced, he had dug his finger a bit too deep while trying to get one of the pieces out and was now trying to suppress the pained sound he was ready to make. He sat on the sink and took off his shirt, it was falling apart he quickly realized but it didn’t matter. He flipped the shirt inside out and put water onto it before applying it to the cut. It didn’t particularly sting he realized quickly as he wiped at the blood.

“Leave, come on, leave!” Kokichi grunted to himself as he wiped the wound gently over and over. He didn’t want to aggravate it and ended up just giving up and sticking the fabric to his wound in a last desperate attempt. The next time he took off his shirt, the wound had stopped bleeding and he let out a relieved sigh.

“Kichi?” Rantaro asked, his voice was distant and Kokichi wondered if he was about to ram the door down before the thought finally sank in and he shrieked in horror.

“I’m fine! I’m fine! I just need some time,” Kokichi winced at how stupid he sounded. He went to the sink and tried washing out the uncanny amount of blood off of his shirt before slipping it back over. His shirt didn’t look particularly wet which was a blessing in some ways. He slipped the pocket knife into the cabinet under the sink and promised himself he wouldn’t take it with him. He straightened himself out and flinched when his cold shirt made contact with his skin.

“Are you sure?” Rantaro asked, Kokichi turned the doorknob and opened the door with what he hoped was a recomforting smile on his face. Rantaro held a change of clothing, white clothing and he accepted them when the green-haired boy handed him the clothes.

“A third gift?” Kokichi giggled happily as Shuichi came up behind Rantaro. Shuichi looked relieved at the expression on Kokichi’s face and gestures st him to go get changed.

Kokichi grinned as he quickly changed into the white clothing. He turned around slowly to get a full view of his new clothes that reminded him of an asylum’s strait-jacket. Needless to say, it was kind of odd but it went well with his image and honestly, anything that Shuichi and Rantaro got him would be enough to fulfill the hole in his heart. 

“How do I look?” Kokichi grinned, coming out of the bathroom with a satisfied look as he slowly twirled around and danced a bit in front of the other two.

“You look great,” Rantaro smiled, nodding his head as he admired Kokichi’s new style with a satisfied look.

“These clothes were definitely worth it,” Shuichi was also nodding, a semblance of a smile grazed his lips before he handed Kokichi his new backpack.

“Thank you, I suppose we’ll be leaving here?” Kokichi asked as he saw no traces of them living in the room. 

“I’m afraid so, did you like it here?” Rantaro asked, eyes narrowing at the small room. He looked like he was already considering booking another night just for Kokichi but the shorter male replied with a no. He didn’t know why but the idea of leaving something behind satisfied him like he was throwing a piece of his past into the room and leaving without it. 

“Is that so, do you want to pack anything? Shuichi and I will be waiting in the lobby, we have to take care of something,” Rantaro smiled not unkindly. Kokichi replied in the affirmative and waved as the other two went downstairs. He closed the front door hastily before running to the bathroom's sink, desperately grasping for the knife. 

It was there where he had put it as if it were waiting for him. The blade glinted as he gently tilted it. He shook his head before stuffing the pocket knife into his bag, covered by his old clothes so that Shuichi and Rantaro wouldn’t notice it. He still wasn’t too sure who had given him the key even if the evidence did point to Rantaro.

He hurriedly checked the rest of the room for anything that he might have left. He didn’t even know what he could possibly forget, his meagre possessions probably wouldn’t even allow him to forget anything. Still, he looked under the tv stand and found a little black device. 

Kokichi took it into his hand, careful to not damage the piece of technology. A very soft humming sound came out of the box as if to lure him closer. He did not dare move it around too much, the box wasn’t that interesting that he would risk his life for it. He turned it over and noticed that it was connected to the telly by a wire. He put the box back down before rushing out of the room, that box would’ve been invisible had it not been for Kokichi’s sudden flash of interest.

He wondered if Rantaro or Shuichi had put it there but when he asked, both of them shared a look before asking him if he had seen correctly. Kokichi shook his head and ended up lying to them about the box saying that he might’ve imagined the box or he just mistook the remote for it. He didn’t even know why he was lying and unconsciously protected something that he felt could be important.

“Are you sure Kokichi? We could still go back and check it out,” Shuichi said as encouragingly as he could. Rantaro nodded in an affirmative, they were so kind to him yet all Kokichi did was try to cause them to worry.

“Yeah, maybe it was another TV remote that I hadn’t seen earlier,” Kokichi smiled but it wasn’t the usual one, it was one he used on his parents. Shuichi and Rantaro took the smile as a good sign and they were soon ready to leave.

“Let’s borrow some bikes,” Rantaro mumbled as he stared at the people biking.

“We haven’t fallen that low as to steal bikes,” Shuichi hissed, it looked like the thought of stealing outraged him which didn’t surprise Kokichi.

“I never said anything about stealing, look what Kaito got us,” Rantaro winked before taking out a brand-new looking phone out of his pocket.

“How did Kaito even get enough money to buy us a cellphone?” Shuichi’s voice was low as Rantaro typed in the password. Something about both of them felt secretive and Kokichi could understand why. He grinned when a little girl pointed at him and said he looked handsome. He thanked her and made a funny face at her, earning himself a giggle from the little girl and a kind smile from a tired-looking mother who was pushing a stroller where a baby slept. It made him tingle somehow somewhat, he liked the way her laughter came out like a melody. The mother's murmured a soft thank you before leaving. Kokichi felt like he was floating.

Everything felt so soft and warm in this little town. Green leaves that were slowly threatening to turn yellow, announcing the oncoming fall, swayed gently in the wind. The light of the sun which shone brightly illuminating everything in such a way that made Kokichi’s heart swell with pride as if he belonged to this place. The laughter of children playing in the park resonated around and the soft sound of conversation made Kokichi want to join in. Flowers bloomed on the ground even if soon they would die. People laughed and some hurried along like in any other city but everything looked amazing. Kokichi almost wanted to throw himself into the city and never come back but he knew better, he had money if he stayed with Shuichi and Rantaro but he would be broke if he left them, it was a cruel truth that he didn’t like to admit but he had to, in some ways he was bound to them.

“What are we doing right now?” Kokichi asked, watching in amazement as people walked around without a care in the world. He liked the look of the street, so many people walking around with their children. He liked the way the little girl in front of him kept asking her dad to pick her up and when he did she giggled loudly.

“We’re going to use the city app to get bikes,” Rantaro replied, confusedly typing around on his phone with a confidence that was wavering as each second passed. Shuichi was assisting him despite not really knowing what to do either.

“I want ice cream,” a little boy whined as he tugged on his mother’s sleeve. The woman looked around for a bit before settling on no. The child started crying and Kokichi couldn’t believe the gall that kid had. His mother had clearly said no so why was he allowed to cry? He asked and got his answer, he waited patiently for the mother to teach her kid a lesson but in the end, all she did was sigh and apologize at the kid before bringing him into a hug. 

“I’m sorry I was being so mean,” the mother hugged her child closer and Kokichi wondered just what had been mean about her sentence. The boy sniffled before a smile broke out on his face, thoughts of the ice cream faded from his memory as he happily clung onto his mum and both of them walked off hand in hand in a way that made Kokichi’s heartthrob. He didn’t even realize it when his happiness turned into resentment. He wanted that little boy’s life, he wanted to have that mother caring for him as she had with him. Everywhere he could see things he was jealous of, he also knew that he didn’t deserve those. He already had Rantaro and Shuichi yet all he could do was be jealous of everyone else.

That couple that walked around hand in hand, couldn’t his parents be like that? That father who wiped his child’s face, Kokichi felt sick, he could remember and almost hear the crack that would come with whenever his father’s hand came in contact with his cheek. He turned around, desperately trying to see something else that could make him feel better but everything he saw reminded him of something bad. He ended up short of breath, eyes wide in panic as his hands went to clutch his hair and he squatted down in a panic he couldn’t understand. Shuichi and Rantaro were still working hard on getting them out of this place so he had to work hard to not keep them back with all his troubles. He breathed in shallowly before trying to calm himself. He could do this, he didn’t need to panic at everything he saw. They weren’t there anymore, they couldn’t hurt him either, so what was he even so panicked for? 

“Kimchi, we figured out how these... worked,” Shuichi grinned as he looked up. Kokichi’s expression was the same as usual but there was something sullen about him. Rantaro, noticing the sharp pause in Shuichi’s voice turned around to look at Kokichi.

“That’s great!” Kokichi grinned that one expression he always reserved for his parents or for his teachers. He was okay, he wouldn’t panic anymore. He had Shuichi and Rantaro, he could do this. His breathing was still irregular and his eyes were just that much wider than usual but Shuichi and Rantaro didn’t know him well enough to pin it down to his sour mood. They could tell something was wrong from his previous aura but now they weren’t too sure anymore.

“So you see, we’ve done everything so we can go get the bikes, how about we go pick them up?” Shuichi smiled kindly. Shuichi was incredibly kind, hand hovering over his shoulder, asking for permission to touch him. Kokichi nodded slowly with a smile as genuine as he could make it. He didn’t have the heart to smile normally right now, it was too much. He could still feel the jealousy wafting off of himself but the other two couldn’t and that was perfect for him. He didn’t want them to know just how pitiful he could be. 

“Then shall we go?” He asked and watched as Rantaro nodded slowly, eyes narrowed at him before leading the way. He liked that about Rantaro, the green-haired male knew what to do and when to do it. He kept them on their schedule while Shuichi was more of the nervous type. He could see Shuichi’s resolve waver, he also knew that Shuichi would rather they stop moving and pay attention to him but that wasn’t going to happen. He was the oldest out of all three of them and he wasn’t about to forget it.

“Hello, we bought three bikes?” Rantaro asked before showing his phone to the shop’s owner. It was a nice shop, all around them were bikes of different prices, each one more extravagant than the others. Kokichi stared in surprise, he had never thought that so many types of bikes existed. Meanwhile, Shuichi was casually pinching one of the rubber tires as if to check for how much air there was inside. 

“Would you like a basket with those?” The owner asked, he looked like he was taking pity on all three of them. Rantaro looked back at them questioningly and nodded when Shuichi replied that they didn’t have enough money for such a luxury.

“A luxury? A basket for a bike? How about I give you one of the baskets that are a bit used. They work amazingly but people are scared as soon as they see the word used. Would you allow me to show you a bit of kindness,” the owner asked. Kokichi was amazed at how plump the man looked, naturally, he’s seen men bigger than this one but looking at his own skinny self, he could see the unfairness of this world. Kokichi’s family was well off, incredibly so. After that incident, his father and mother had made tons of money but even so, it was like he wasn’t part of the family. There was nothing amazing about what he ate, the long dining table that separated him from his paneers came back to his mind.

He’s almost salivating, remembering the delicious fragrance that would waft to his nose as his parents ate meals cooked by top chefs while he was left with one of those microwave dishes. He didn’t particularly hate them but when you had much better food only a few steps away from you, you kind of want to try them, don’t you? He remembers that one time the cook took pity on him and fed him a slice of freshly cooked sausage. It was tiny but Kokichi had felt like he was in heaven. That cook was never to be seen again in the house and deep down he knew that the person had served as a warning to the rest of the staff. 

“Why are you being nice to us?” Kokichi asked and watched with a bit of amusement as both Rantaro and Shuichi turned around in sync to look at him with an incredulous look. He knew he was being rude but he needed to know. The smile never left the man’s face as he looked at him and Kokichi couldn’t feel anything mean coming from the man.

“It’s not your fault,” the man whispered in a comforting way. Kokichi felt a few tears rolling down his cheek before it registered to him that he’s crying. The man was still smiling at him in an almost unsettling way in a way that suggested he knew something about Kokichi.

“What?” Kokichi asks, there’s no grace in his sentence as he speaks and he could feel Rantaro and Shuichi cursing at him for his lack of finesse. He can’t help it, however, because he knows that the man’s talking about something else but how could he have known?

“I’ll go put the bike basket on, please wait in the shop for a little bit,” the man laughed warmly before disappearing into his little room at the back of his counter. The door closed behind him with a deafening click or maybe Kokichi was just too focused on that door.

“Kokichi,” Shuichi said sternly but said male didn’t react. He couldn’t believe it, did the man know something that he didn’t? He nonchalantly wiped off the single tear rolling down his cheek before promptly apologizing.

“It’s not that we’re mad, we’re just surprised because we saw you crying,” Rantaro suddenly said after his apology. Kokichi’s eyes widened and went to dry his cheeks unconsciously proving to Shuichi and Rantaro that he really had been crying.

“Hey, we really meant it when we said you could talk to us,” Rantaro bet over a bit too gently cup Kokichi’s face in his hands. It was comforting in some ways and also very threatening because Kokichi couldn’t turn his face away now.

“He just surprised me that’s all. Those were a few lyrics from my favourite band,” Kokichi smiled sadly as if reminiscing about the said band. Shuichi’s eyes narrowed at him but let it go. He grabbed Rantaro’s wrist and pulled it away from Kokichi before pushing Rantaro away and also following behind the green-haired male. Kokichi appreciated the little alone time he got and went to check out some cool bike gadgets, totally missing Rantaro and Shuichi’s conversation.

“What were you thinking? I could tell you were about to put your hand a bit lower so that you could feel his pulse point. So what if he’s lying to us, he won’t hurt us Rantaro. You should know at least that, he’s more broken than both of us combined. At least give him a chance,” Shuichi glared and hissed at him. Rantaro thought he kind of looked like an angry puppy or kitty, he shook his head before offering a shy and regretful look. 

“I know that Shuichi but it was just a reflex. I really was only planning on just sticking my hand to his face but as soon as I did my reflexes kicked in. Don’t give me that look, you know even better than me that when our reflexes kick in that we can’t do anything about it. We’re too anchored into their stupid plan so it doesn’t matter if we’ve gotten away from then. In the end, we’re still just what they want, dolls that can’t help but try to live as their own. We’re done Shuichi, we could never escape their grasp and we both knew it yet we’re still trying. I can’t change in one night Shuichi,” Rantaro replied, there was something helpless about his voice that Shuichi knew all too well.

“I know that… just watch your actions all right, he’s one of the few people we can trust after all,” Shuichi’s tone turned softer at the mention of the other boy and to be honest, Rantaro understood him perfectly. In the few days they had Kokichi, he had become their anchor. Shuichi and Rantaro had long since forgotten what was amazing about the outside world but with Kokichi there, so happily gazing at the world and always so happy whenever they did anything for him, it had reminded them that there was still someone out there that could accept them that easily. It was sketchy and all three of them knew it but this make-believe family was also amazing in the way that they really did get along well like one.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try my best. I don’t want to hurt him either but say Shuichi, do you think what Kokichi found was a listening device?” Rantaro asked, his expression turned dark almost immediately and Shuichi could understand why. Rantaro was thinking about the group chasing them using underhanded tactics on both, no, the three of them. 

“I thought so too, for all we know they already know our next destination so I was thinking maybe we should go back to Kokichi’s home place but they might be expecting that too,” Shuichi sighed in a way that made his head tilt and his cap fall onto his eyes hiding half of his face. 

“The worst is I think people know Kokichi’s face albeit not that well, I’ve seen people stare at him like he’s either interesting or some kind of devil reincarnated,” Rantaro commented offhandedly.

“I guess you also noticed that, huh? Should we do some research in the next town? It would be if Kokichi got caught by them. He could be prompted to betray us as much as I don’t like admitting it,” Shuichi sighed, his hat was sliding in a dangerous way anymore and it would come off of his head.

“We probably should, you know that they wouldn’t hesitate to use anything against us. Not them, the Ultimate Hunt, we both know they would do anything to get to us,” Rantaro mumbled, hand snaking around to grip Shuichi’s. Shuichi’s other hand comes to close on top of Rantaro’s for the rest of the duration of their talk. It’s an affectionate gesture that calms both of them when they get fidgety thanks to their thoughts.

“Should we tell him that it’s for his sake?” Shuichi asks but as he’s asking he already knows that it’s not possible. Rantaro would never allow Kokichi to know about it. It would be dangerous to expose Kokichi to a past he desperately seems to be trying to claw away from. Rantaro’s being considerate, always is but in a different way than Shuichi. Rantaro likes to help but not when the recipient of his kindness knows it. Shuichi meanwhile would rather others know that he’s doing it to help them like this he can know if he’s being annoying or something. 

“No. I can see you already know that… Shuichi, you know I don’t want to harm Kokichi,” Rantaro looks a bit like he’s in a pinch. He can’t help it and Shuichi knows it, Rantaro is starting to doubt his actions and Shuichi won’t allow it. 

“I know, let’s not tell h-“ Shuichi whirled around, letting go of Rantaro’s hand as the click of the door alerted both of them. A period of faked thank yous and happy smiles that meant absolutely nothing went on as they got their bikes. As soon as they had gone out of the shop, both Shuichi and Rantaro had made sure to check the bikes for any signs of wiretapping, surprised when they found none. Kokichi was blissfully unaware of his ‘brothers’ distrust in that kind man.

“How about we stop at the park before we go,” Rantaro smiled at both of them. He saw the suspicious look on Shuichi but was glad when he didn’t comment on the abruptness of it all. There was a kind of complicity he had with Shuichi that he didn’t doubt Kokichi would soon understand. Rantaro trusted Kokichi and he wanted the shorter male to understand that as soon as possible. Kokichi turned around almost as if he could hear Rantaro’s inner thoughts and gave him a small shy grin that made Rantaro want to protect Kokichi no matter what.

“Sure, I’d love to go to a park! I’ve never been to one for leisure only,” Kokichi giggled much to Shuichi and Rantaro’s shock, what was that even supposed to mean? Rantaro couldn’t help but get scared at Kokichi’s past. Just what had happened for him to have never been to a park for leisure?

“I-is that so? Then let’s go on our new bikes,” Shuichi’s smile was painful as he got onto his bike. Rantaro also got on, catching the slight discomfort of Shuichi’s face as he looked at how excited Kokichi was.

“I don’t know how to ride a bike,” Kokichi suddenly revealed and Rantaro watched as Shuichi almost fell off his bike. Rantaro laughed before trying to teach Kokichi how to bike. It took a while with all their giggles and attempts but when Kokichi got a hang of it, they realized he was actually really good at biking. Attempt number two and Kokichi already had one hand waving at them as he casually bikes away. Rantaro and Shuichi smiled as they caught up to him and the three of them bikes off towards the park.

***  
“We will leave this portion of the plan to you. We have great faith in you Naegi Makoto so please do your best. You too Kirigiri Kyoko,” the person handed them those files. Kyoko could already see Makoto sigh at the sight of all the new paperwork he would have to read through. Kyoko gently tapped his shoulder in a way that should’ve been comforting.

“Thank you, let’s get to work,” Makoto sighed before dropping a recomforting hand onto Kyoko’s. The girl sighed and sat down, taking one of the files before opening it.

“The three of them have teamed up together? What a nightmare,” Kyoko mumbled and Makoto nodded his head in assent.

“It truly is, if only they hadn’t found him…” Makoto sighed before flipping the page. So many things had been blacked out that there was practically no information available.

“Hm, do you think that bike shop owner is a good lead?” Kyoko asked but really it was more rhetorical. It didn’t matter what Makoto replies because after all, Kyoko had already settled on that bike shop owner.

“Alright then, shall we go?” Makoto asked before helping her up.

“It would be wise to do so, the shop isn’t very far from us only a two-hour drive. We should make it there before it closes,” Kyoko said as she went off on her own. Makoto took a last look at his desk as if he knew that he wouldn’t be back before a long time.

“This won’t end well,” Makoto sighed before getting into the elevator with Kyoko. He made sure as they went down that he hadn’t forgotten anything, after all, something didn’t feel right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can private message me on Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3) or on Instagram (isaac_t_foster). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.
> 
> Btw does anyone know Mo Dao Zu Shi?


	8. Secrets And Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two events in one short chapter of 3k words hm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Suggestions are also appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

The park was a surprisingly peaceful place. Kokichi had always associated those with people who had nothing to do. He watched as people enjoyed their walks and talked with their partners as he strode by them on his bike. He had gotten good at this, he could pilot his bike with only one hand and he was rather proud of it.

“Kokichi, two hands please, we don’t even have a helmet if you fall down!” Rantaro yelled out from behind him. He nodded and sighed, sure enough, he put his two hands to steer and let out a squeak when he encountered a pebble that had almost toppled his bike.

“Are you okay?” He heard Shuichi ask, he must have noticed him lurching forward, either that or they had heard the pitiful sound he had made. He answered in the affirmative and inhaled the nice air of this particular place.

“Shall we stop here?” Rantaro asked, there was a slight edge to his voice that none of the other boys noticed. Kokichi slowed down until he came to a stop and looked proudly at Shuichi and Rantaro.

“You’re really good at riding a bike, you learn very quickly Ouma-kun!” Shuichi grinned and ruffled his hair. Kokichi was surprised at the sudden change of name but he did suppose the way Shuichi was calling him now did fit with his personality.

“Indeed you do, are you sure you haven’t ridden a bike before?” Rantaro grinned and put his hand on Kokichi’s shoulder. It felt a bit heavy but it was comforting for the purple-haired boy, he didn’t notice when Rantaro’s gaze narrowed at something.

“Who knows, Taro?” Kokichi giggled to himself, having people be proud of him really made him feel better. It was a foreign feeling that made him melt, it was so warm and pleasing.

“How about you take him to the nearby park? I’ll go get some things that we’re missing, alright?” Rantaro asked Shuichi. He watched as the detective nodded happily and went off with Kokichi to the playground. 

Rantaro would have to be quick if he wanted things to go right. He approached that one particular bench hidden by many trees, away from the prying eyes of curious normal people. He looked at the phone, he was 3 minutes in advance so he would wait. Doing business with these people wasn’t in anyways pleasant. In fact, it stressed him out more than he’d like to admit but he had to be strong if he wanted Shuichi and Kokichi to keep this peaceful lifestyle.

“Did you give him that?” A voice asked. It wasn’t a familiar one and Rantaro wasn’t surprised. If only to fool him, this person would use voice changers every time he came to see him.

“I did, now what are you going to do?” Rantaro spat out. He hated doing this to them, the second they figured everything out, their friendship would end.

“Don’t lie to me, I know that Shuichi was the one who did it,” the voice answered and Rantaro froze in his spot on the bench. He felt himself shake and did his best to control his nerves, which was easier said than done.

“No, he wasn’t the one who did it, are you sure your knowledge isn’t tainted?” Rantaro asked, his voice had steeled himself, unlike his mental state.

“I’m afraid not dear Rantaro… or should I call you Taro? Don’t forget she’s still in my grasp. You don’t want to lose her, do you?” The person asked, that completely shattered Rantaro’s control. He couldn’t stop his shaking anymore as he turned around with a deadly look in his eyes.

“Don’t call me Taro and don’t you dare do anything to her,” Rantaro ground his teeth together, practically looking like he was ready to tear through the other one. Whoever it was just laughed at his pitiful display and made a dismissive motion with his hand.

“Ever the scary one aren’t you? Don’t forget, isn’t that a trait in your personality that originally wasn't there? Tell me Rantaro, how does it feel to be under such tremendous pressure? Is it killing you? Tell me, hey, tell me everything dear Rantaro,” the voice shook with laughter.

“I would punch you but I know you sent one of your goons. Next time when you have the balls to come to face me straight on, I will sock you so hard you wil-” Rantaro cut himself off. This didn’t sound like him and he knew that. He had to stop himself from completely shattering, he still had to take care of them.

“Then how about this, instead of the original mission I was planning on giving you, how about you tell me which one between your beloved Shuichi and Kokichi would you rather kill?” It asked and raucous laughter exploded from deep inside the voice changer. The goon himself looked slightly panicked but it didn’t matter how that person reacts, he was useless in every single way.

“You can’t be serious,” Rantaro answered, jaw-dropping comically. Deep inside, he already knew his answer but he didn’t want to admit it out loud. It would be unfair to himself and the person he had chosen to let die.

“Ah, but I am… however, if I did something I would have bot organizations trailing after me so I’ll have to postpone that plan to another time. Rantaro, you will be headed for this area and you will be meeting me in this area. Do not forget that,” the voice warned before the goon let out a shriek and started walking away very quickly. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed the little piece of paper that goon had given him before leaving and got up.

He actually did need to do some shopping so he went into the store, looking incredibly pissed off. He tried to stop it, he told himself that everything would be fine. He had guessed that Kokichi had taken the survival knife for self-defense but he had never expected Shuichi to hand it over to the purple-haired boy. He didn’t know and didn’t want to know what this implied but he was forced to think about it. If Shuichi was doing things without telling him then it could get dangerous for Rantaro himself.

“Sir, are you alright?” A clerk asked full of concern but Rantaro didn’t care. A show of affection he didn’t need from anyone but from those he cared for would not make him feel any better. He wanted to avoid human interaction as much as possible, he was still a bit shaken from the previous discussion. He didn’t like the way things were going at this point. It scared him, he didn’t want to lose either boys.

“I am perfectly fine, I do hope I haven’t worried you. You see, I told myself that there might be a time in the near future where I’d want to go mountain climbing so I wanted to know if you have any rope for that?” Rantaro asked he put on his most comforting smile, hoping it could fool the clerk. Well, it wasn’t like it was the clerk’s job to ask him how he was but he didn’t want to take any chances. 

The entire discussion went by slowly, nothing went out of order, he bought the rope, the clerk asked him if he had the harness and he nodded. He didn’t have any but it didn’t matter because this rope most likely wasn’t going to be used for mountain climbing. He paid for everything, thanked the other with the kindest smile he could manage before stuffing the rope into his backpack and going back to the park.

He looked at them play for a little bit with a fondness he didn’t think he could feel before going to get them. The sated look on Kokichi’s face made him ruffle his hair, he couldn’t believe just how bad his childhood needed to be for Kokichi to be so happy to play in the park. Even the other children were staring at him with an incredulous expression. He was skipping as he went came over to Rantaro and hugged him tightly. Shuichi followed Kokichi with a small content smile. He mouthed a thank you at Rantaro. Both of the boys were precious in his eyes. 

“We should go now, if we start rolling now we should be able to get to the next town before nightfall,” Rantaro smiled kindly. They did exactly that, rolling the entire day with relentless effort. 

Kokichi would laugh into the wind and let out shouts in more inhabited areas. At one point they got off their bikes to go look at a pond. Kokichi had marveled at it, Rantaro and Shuichi has gone to pick up some fruits for a quick picnic and settled on taking some food out of their bags. It wasn’t much, especially for three growing children but none of them complained. By the time they made it, it was much earlier than Rantaro had predicted so they decided to grab a bite at a nearby restaurant. It was one of those fast-food chains but none of them seemed to mind it.

“What will you be taking?” The waitress asked she was quite a beauty, with blond hair tied into two ponytails on each side of her head. She looked like a doll, something about her was ominous but Shuichi had gone off to the bathroom and Rantaro to order. The girl shouldn’t have been there to ask him any questions, she should’ve been behind the counter so why was she here?

“I have already placed my order, I think you’ve got the wrong person,” Kokichi answered and finally realized that he had seen her before. Of course, he had, she was Enoshima Junko, the famous model who was on just about every magazine there was. 

However, there was no way that could be right, what was such a known figure doing in such a place. Shouldn’t she be under all those paparazzi's attention? Junko noticed the recognition that flashed across his face and grinned.

“Like what you see?” She asked, tilting her head up in a condescending manner. Kokichi wondered why Shuichi wasn’t back yet and saw that Rantaro was still ordering, looking a bit overwhelmed. 

“No, I don’t… what do you want from me?” Kokichi asked he didn’t like the way Junko was talking to him, almost familiar in some weird way. Something about her felt incredibly familiar but Kokichi couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

“How about this, what if I told you I know who’s chasing after you?” Junko asked, her personality seemed to change and Kokichi had to admit that he absolutely hated it. Something about her told him that she wasn’t lying, perhaps it was the way that there were no hints of doubt in her eyes or on her expression.

“What about who’s chas- why do you know that people are after us?” Kokichi asked he had already slipped up at that point so there was no reason for him to keep pretending. The look on her face morphed into a condescending smirk.

“I know many more things than you do dear Kokichi… Don't you know? Your beloved friends haven’t told you everything, have they?” She said the last part with a knowing grin.

“You don’t know anything about us,” Kokichi felt like the entire conversation was just one huge joke. Why was a famous person like Enoshima Junko basically trying to bring up dirt on his friends? Unless... was she part of that group? Kokichi’s eyes narrowed, Shuichi still wasn’t back and at this point and he was getting slightly scared. The idea of Enoshima Junko being part of the Ultimate Hunt didn’t sit well with him. He could feel just how cunning and intelligent she was.

“Alright, then how about this? Someone gave you a pocket knife, didn’t they? Tell me, what do you think that knife is for or who do you think it’s from?” Junko asked, her personality had switched to an all cutesy one which threw Kokichi off balance.

“What knife?” Kokichi asked he was an amazing liar, that at least he was fairly confident of. He saw the surprised expression on her face before it changed into one of anger then went into a depressed and scared one. He thought he saw a mushroom on her head at one point but he wasn’t too sure for when he looked too closely at Junko, it would disappear.

“You know what knife I’m talking about, don’t you? You also know that your beloved S was the one who gave it to you,” Her voice seemed to tremble but Kokichi wasn’t going to fall for that. He shook his head as innocently as he could. By S, did she mean Shuichi?

“Don-“ her expression was just about to change when she noticed someone walking towards them. She tsked with a displeased expression and started to take her leave. Kokichi wouldn’t allow that and just as he was about to grab her, Junko started running. She disappeared from the restaurant in a flash.

“Who was that?” Shuichi asked, the detective looked to be extremely confused. He had a handkerchief in his hands as he wiped his wet hands. Kokichi wanted to ask him if he was the one who had given him the knife but felt like it wouldn’t be an appropriate question.

“I have no idea, is Taro ready yet?” Kokichi asked, somehow he felt like his encounter shouldn’t be explained to anyone. It was too weird and he felt like they wouldn’t believe him not after the listening device he had encountered this morning. She hadn’t even given him any solid information so maybe he shouldn’t be paying so much attention to her.

“Yes, it seems he’s finally finished ordering. Don’t try to change the subject, you looked uncomfortable while talking to her, so tell me what’s wrong?” Shuichi asked, slipping into the booth in front of Kokichi.

“She was just a mentally deranged girl who thought she recognized me,” Kokichi answered which wasn’t false in most ways. Shuichi thought about them and finally sighed, letting it go.

“I’ve finished ordering our food. They should be bringing it to us shortly. Hm, what are you so down about?” Rantaro asked, looking at Shuichi with palpable concern.

“Nothing much Rantaro, do we even have enough money to afford this luxury?” Shuichi asked it came out sharper than he had meant for it to. He cringed at his own tone and apologized for how rude he was being.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it Shu… we do have enough, it’s been a while since we’ve gotten this chance so let’s just enjoy it,” Rantaro’s smile was strained as his eyes lingered on Shuichi uncertainty written across his face. 

“Alright but if there’s anything wrong, you have to tell me, do you understand?” Shuichi asked, eyes narrowing at Rantaro’s slightly off-kilter smile. Shuichi knew what that kind of look entailed but Kokichi didn’t and he didn’t want to scare their new friend. Rantaro was up to something again and Shuichi could tell that this time it wasn’t only to protect him. Kokichi was definitely also part of the plan and that seemed to be why Rantaro was even more worried.

Now, Kokichi would say that he wasn’t easily disturbed by lying but that would be entirely wrong. He absolutely hated it, too many times had been lied to, the consequences had hurt him more than anything he thought could have. He himself was a liar so he didn’t hold it against those who lied to him but this, coming from the two people he trusted the most at the moment was going to kill him. He hated it, the way those memories would flow back into his mind. All those terrifying memories of his parents, his so-called ‘friends’ and those teachera of his. Everyone he knew was a liar and he didn’t hold it against them but this was a bit too much. 

He could almost feel it, the way the belt had cracked against his back as his father yelled at him for lying. It had been a small white lie, something that had spiraled to be the center of his world. He had lied to his father that he had a friend that was threatening to take him away. That had pissed off his parents and that was the only thing Kokichi had ever kept. A symbol of his rebellion he did suppose. He had paid the price enough for him to be able to still feel the dull ache they provided.

“Then, let’s dig in,” Kokichi grinned, watching as the tension between Rantaro and Shuichi snapped. Both of them focused on him, eyes piercing. Kokichi was shaken interiorly, he had never seen both of them this worked up but that too shouldn’t have been surprising. He was new to all this, he didn’t know that much about the two others and he didn’t mind. After all, they were the ones who had saved him from his old life. 

They were the reasons why Kokichi could, for the first time, try one of these fast food burgers. He didn’t have to eat scraps anymore and he was grateful enough for that. He appreciated it immensely and hoped that the other two could tell that he wasn’t going to betray them. Even if he was tempted to figure out the truth behind what Enoshima Junko had said, he wouldn’t because he trusted that the other two had a good reason for their behaviours.

“Let’s dig in. I hope you’ll like this food Ouma-kun, it’s really delicious,” Shuichi smiled gently. Kokichi returned the smile, he didn’t ask why Shuichi seemed to know that he had never eaten the food from such a well-known fast-food chain. He didn’t question the way Rantaro’s knee shook against his. He didn’t question the fact that the cashier never asked Rantaro for money. More importantly, he wondered why his food gave off such a chemical smell.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“They’ve made their moves? How incredibly annoying of them to act now that those children have caught onto who they are. However, we shall not lose against them. After all, we have Makoto Naegi and Kirigiri Kyoko on our sides,” Kazuo sighed. He looked at Jin, the man nodded slowly.

“I see but do you really think of this as the best option?” The man asked, looking at Kazuo sharply. The old man exhaled, eyes closing for a moment.

“It might not be but it is one of our best chances. We shouldn’t waste it,” Kazuo answered, he was rather unimpressed by everything that had happened. It was merely just a game of time. Whoever got to those children first would be the one with the most advantage.

“Very well,” Jin answered before looking away slowly out of the window, Tengan Kazuo’s gaze trailed onto the younger man’s back and then sighed again. Things wouldn’t be going nearly as smoothly as he had hoped they would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can message me on Instagram (isaac_t_foster) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


	9. I'm Allowed To Suffer Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The results of that great meal and some mental breakdowns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Suggestions are also appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

“I told you this would happen!” Kokichi heard someone yell, he wanted to ask them to stop because it was worsening his headache but he couldn’t. His tongue felt heavy and his throat was much too parched to be able to say anything.

“I know you did, we can’t do anything about it now,” another voice said. Kokichi wasn’t even too sure if it was someone else because his head was spinning. He tried lifting it up which was a horrible move, it felt like he had bricks in his brain. He could barely make his finger twitch and he couldn’t see much since his eyelids were closed.

“W-Water,” he croaked out but it was too silent for the others to hear. That was made obvious when none of them even reacted to his voice. His eyes were so heavy at that point that he felt like if he tried lifting it up it would just smash into the ground again.

“I know that! Why are you so calm?” The first voice Kokichi had heard shrieked. The shrillness of the other’s voice made Kokichi grimace, well at least he would’ve if his consciousness hadn’t gone out at that moment. 

“Are you awake? Hey, he isn’t waking up,” a voice asked and Kokichi felt slightly better now albeit slightly nauseous. Something told him that waking up now wasn’t the best idea so he pretended to stay asleep.

“You have to chill Shu, the effects may last longer since his body is tiny,” Rantaro’s voice was finally recognised by Kokichi and he couldn’t believe it. There was no way Shuichi and Rantaro had drugged them...right?

“Rantaro!” Kokichi almost flinched when Shuichi’s shoe came abnormally close to his nose as the other started walking off towards Rantaro.

“Shu, we need answers. Let go of me. It’s starting to hurt,” Rantaro said and that made Kokichi crack one of his eyes open. The sight was bewildering, Shuichi was holding onto Rantaro’s shirt with a kind of urgency that made Kokichi wonder what had happened to Shuichi’s calmness and gentleness.

“You didn’t have to drug him!” Shuichi did let go of Rantaro but honestly, in Kokichi’s opinion, Shuichi’s hold on Rantaro hadn’t even been very strong. Kokichi quickly closed his eyes again when Shuichi came closer to him.

“I know we didn’t but what would you have preferred? That we kept this farce up for the couple of years? I know what you’re going to say and don’t. You know how elusive Kokichi can be, Shuichi please, we’re running out of time,” Rantaro pleaded. Kokichi was confused, what time were they even talking about? Just what did they think he knew for them to have resorted to using drugs on Kokichi?

“I know! I know that… but I don’t want to suspect him,” Shuichi whispered and Kokichi’s breathing picked up slightly when he felt Shuichi kneel down to stroke his hair.

“And you think I want to?” Rantaro asked, his tone was relaxed but there was a twinge of uneasiness in his words.

“I don’t think you want to. I know you need to,” Shuichi answered matter-of-factly. Both boys heard Rantaro’s voice hitch at those words before the green-haired boy could stop himself.

“Hey, tell me Kokichi, how long will you stay asleep?” Rantaro asked and at that second, Kokichi couldn’t have been more grateful for his parents’ training. His breathing didn’t pick up as Rantaro asked his question and neither did he stir when Shuichi gently tap his arm.

“He’s still out,” Shuichi said as he looked at Rantaro. Kokichi cracked open his eye when Shuichi got up and the smaller one heard his footsteps getting away from him. Thankfully, Rantaro wasn’t staring at him.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Rantaro shrugged and Kokichi shut his eyes again. He wanted to know what was going on but he knew better than to keep his eyes open too long. He felt nauseous again but didn’t do anything about it.

Then, much to Kokichi’s horror, he had to wake up. He started feeling chilled and much to his horror, he started puking. He tried getting up but he wasn’t doing a great job at it, immediately, he felt Shuichi come over to help him up while Rantaro went to get a trashcan but by the time the green-haired boy was back, he was dry heaving instead of actually puking.

“Kichi? Kichi!” Shuichi’s panicked voice made Kokichi feel dizzy. He was too loud and a bit too close to him but he didn’t have it in him to tell Shuichi to get away from him. Rantaro brought him some water before giving him a towel.

He had been lucky, none of his fluids had gotten on his clothes and he thanked Rantaro before he wiped his mouth. He then proceeded to take the water bottle and practically finished the entire bottle in one go and he would have had it not been for Rantaro’s interruption.

“Don’t drink too much, slower!” Rantaro yelped as he tilted the bottle downwards so that Kokichi wouldn’t choke on his drink. Kokichi thanked him with a kind smile. His throat still felt parched but he did as he was told, taking shorter gulps of the liquid and giving Rantaro pointed looks that the other one didn’t even notice.

“Where are we? Just what happened?” Kokichi croaked out, before flopping back on his side. His hands flew to clutch his head in a tight grip as if that would help him in any way. He had been so focused on their conversation that he had forgotten just how thirsty he was.

“We knocked you out,” Rantaro replied. Way to be blunt, Kokichi couldn’t help thinking but he was too weak to even roll his eyes. He looked at Shuichi who was gently rubbing his back and Kokichi finally realised why he couldn’t move his legs separately anymore. They were tied together with a sturdy-looking rope. The panicked look on his face must have alerted Rantaro and that made Kokichi smile interiorly. He had realised the first time he had woken up that his legs were tied up but knew better than to react to it then. Not that he could’ve even if he had wanted to.

“Wh-Why?” Kokichi asked. The purple-haired boy was confident in his lies and acting skills. After all, he had needed those skills for… other purposes. Like those days that he had to spend in school, with all those people trying to get a reaction out of him. He had been turned into a relatively unfeeling thing a long while ago but lying and then playing the part had become a second nature to him.

“Kokichi I know that this must feel really suspicious but we have a good reason for this. Rantaro was searching on the internet about a case that had happened a while ago since news resurfaced about a trial and you know… the name associated with the killer of that incident was Ouma,” Shuichi was still behind Kokichi so the shortest one had to turn around to look at Shuichi. The younger boy’s features were twisted painfully into a sad expression as he looked down at the purple-haired male.

“And that’s why you decided to knock me out?” Kokichi asked, flabbergasted. Were they going to hold him responsible for his father’s actions again? Would they find that article about his mother and disown him? He wouldn’t be surprised and honestly, he more or less wanted it at this point. It would feel so right, to be alone in this world again. 

“Kokichi…” Shuichi looked pained and Kokichi decided to look away from him and look at Rantaro for an answer. Rantaro’s expression mirrored his partner’s and he looked reluctant to say anything else.

“What?” Kokichi’s tone got a bit angry and he could hear the panicked edge to his words. He could feel his breathing pick up as his vision got blurry, the hand that had previously felt so comforting now felt like it was trying to keep him in place. His bound legs didn’t help as he weakly kicked with them, wiggling on the ground like a worthless worm.

“He was apparently part of the Ultimate Hunt,” Rantaro whispered and Kokichi swore his legs would have given out had he been standing. His mind went blank as he looked at the other two with his mouth hanging wide open, he couldn’t even fake his expression. This was too big for him to have predicted and now he understood much better why they had decided to tie up his legs. He still had access to his arms albeit he was too weak to move them.

“Kokichi?” Shuichi’s hand left his back to his biggest comfort and he pushed himself away from Rantaro. Thankfully, his hand had managed to land one a dry part. Shuichi’s knee dug into his back and he was glad when the other removed it to allow more place for Kokichi to manoeuvre himself in.

“You’re lying, that’s a great joke Amami-chan!” Kokichi laughed breathlessly. He knew he was going into a stage of denial but he couldn’t help it. He knew it wasn't a joke but he just couldn’t believe it. What had he done to deserve this? He had only wanted to have a new life, not discover that his new life was related to just about everything was related to his old one.

“Kimchi,” Shuichi mumbled and Kokichi could hear the other's voice tremble but he didn’t care. He started laughing then, a sharp and horrifying laugh that made Rantaro recoil. He kept wiggling around as if he were trying to get away from both of them but he didn’t even move an inch from his position. 

“Kokichi?” Rantaro asked, dropping the cute nicknames, Kokichi noticed without really registering it. He kept laughing and he could feel tears leaking without his consent, he stopped those as quickly as he could.

“It’s too late, he's coming after us. He knew all along that this would happen,” Kokichi said to himself as he somehow managed to curl up into a ball. He should’ve had known that he couldn’t escape his father, never could he escape the grip of the devil in a human’s skin. He could feel his body get racked in shudders but at the same time, it almost felt like this wasn’t his body anymore. He couldn’t really explain it properly, especially not when he was in this state of mind.

“Who’s coming?” Shuichi asked and at that moment, Kokichi finally realised why he had felt so unsettled. He couldn’t help it as he felt the familiar feeling of his eyes burning, ready to shed tears that Kokichi really didn’t want to shed.

“You care more about who’s coming,” Kokichi said and stopped squirming around, his jaw fell slack. His stare went blank and he could see Rantaro waving his hand in front of him as they spoke to him but he refused to acknowledge them. 

“What?” Shuichi asked in a surprised tone but Kokichi didn’t answer and Rantaro just shook his head at him with a worried look. Kokichi’s breathing had picked up again and he could feel his mind go more and hazier. He couldn’t focus and that was in no way anything good. Why must he be so weak? He could totally be normal and just pretend that everything was okay yet he couldn’t because of how emotionally weak he was. 

“Kokichi,” Rantaro tried but there was no answer from the purple-haired boy. The tallest one finally saw that Kokichi’s eyes had closed and he could see that Kokichi’s breathing had regulated itself.

“He’s asleep?” Shuichi asked, his fist clenched against his side and his expression was a tense one and Rantaro could see the guilt seeping into his eyes as the shorter one stared down at Kokichi. 

“It’s not your fault,” Rantaro answered before getting up and nodding at Shuichi. The shorter one shook his head but also got up. Shuichi felt guilty on many levels, he should’ve known that saying that wouldn’t have been the right answer. Of course, it wouldn’t have been, just what he been thinking? He had felt Kokichi’s uneasiness yet the only thing he did was worry about himself.

Then again, he had every right to do so. Kokichi might have been feeling like he was a victim but Rantaro and Shuichi had every right to feel like that too. Kokichi didn’t know what they had been through, he didn’t know anything yet he dared to act so hurt just because Shuichi had wanted to assure their survival? 

“Shuichi, don’t you dare,” Rantaro approached him as Shuichi slowly knelt down, hand outstretching in a manner that led the tallest boy to believe that Shuichi was going to commit some kind of crime.

“Why?” Shuichi asked as his eyes focused on Kokichi’s neck and his hands were so so close to that white flesh. His finger brushed against Kokichi’s nape and he could feel himself losing control over his actions as his hand slowly came to a close around Kokichi’s neck threateningly.

"Because it isn't like you and you know that you'll regret it later on," Rantaro looked at him pointedly. Shuichi sighed before willing his hand to stop. He knew he would've regretted it, Kokichi was dear to him and he knew that the purple-haired boy was also dear to Rantaro. 

"Why didn't you come over to stop me?" Shuichi asked, staring at Rantaro as his hands retreated to his sides. They clenched into fists around nothing, he wasn't anywhere near as furious as he had been a little while ago but it didn't stop him from wanting to at least give Kokichi a small lesson.

“I knew you would listen to reason. Go sleep Shuichi, I’ll take care of that,” Rantaro made a face as he looked at the puddle.

“I… thank you Rantaro, I promise to help if anything else happens,” Shuichi answered before he wrapped his arm around Kokichi’s waist.

Rantaro didn’t notice the way Shuichi searched in Kokichi’s clothing for something. He didn’t see the way Kokichi stir a bit and he definitely didn’t notice the way Shuichi’s hand closed around an object that Kokichi had been sure he hadn’t left there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can message me on Instagram (isaac_t_foster) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


	10. Shattering Into A Million Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi knows that there's something off but he doubts himself too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please alert me.  
Feedback is appreciated.  
Suggestions are also appreciated.  
Like usual, I did not beta this but more importantly, I hope you can enjoy this story.

Kokichi woke up in a start, looking around the room and frowned at the sight. He was in a motel room, it wasn’t a familiar sight but he could recognise the horrible taste of the owners. He shook his head and almost screamed at the searing pain in his head. He felt kind of sick and he felt like he had just narrowly escaped some kind of death threat that loomed over him. Shuichi and Rantaro were milling around the room.

“Morning,” Kokichi rasped out, his voice was horrifying to listen to even for himself. It was annoying but neither Rantaro nor Shuichi seemed to mind it and replied quite cheerfully with their own greetings, their voices aren’t very loud for both of them are rather reserved. At least, that’s how Kokichi sees them, mysterious and reserved, perhaps there’s something bad looming behind the idea and for now, Kokichi decides that he will ignore those thoughts. He could go at least a few minutes without thinking that someone would end up betraying him, couldn’t he?

He likes it, he thinks, waking up in a bed, somewhere warm with not that many threats looming over him 24/7. He especially likes the care he receives from his beloved friends and that makes him feel floaty for an entire minute or so before the image shatters into a million pieces that Kokichi knows he can’t pick up. No amount of super glue could ever piece back his trust in people and certainly not after that ominous moment from… last night? How long had he been asleep in that basement-like place? Had that just been a dream? He doesn’t want to know but he feels like ignorance would be blissful but it would also be something deadly that Kokichi wanted to avoid at all costs.

“Are you feeling better now?” Rantaro asked and for a second, Kokichi could have almost believed that gentle tone. He was a liar, Kokichi came to the realisation soon enough but now as both Shuichi and Rantaro looked at him with their usual smile sprinkled with a hint of worry, Kokichi was starting to doubt himself.

He could’ve sworn that he hadn’t dreamt about what had happened before but now as Shuichi and Rantaro looked at him with full-on concern, Kokichi felt like his head was splitting. Had he just imagined it or was he being stupid again? This wouldn’t be the first time he would have had such vivid dreams only for them to turn out as falsified memories.

“Feeling better, did something happen to me? Was I feeling bad?” He asked and he almost wanted to add ‘was it because you guys knocked me out by putting some kind of drug into my meal from yesterday night?’ but he knows that’s not the right thing to say if he wants this lie to last. He knew perfectly that he hadn’t been feeling well earlier but if he could just catch a hint of a lie wafting off of both of them then he would know that it really had happened. He couldn’t even feel any sourness in his mouth from his puking which led to him believing that it might just have been a product of his imagination.

“You were feeling pretty terrible, you passed out right after finishing your food,” Rantaro answered. He doesn’t waver and that makes Kokichi grind his teeth together in his mouth despite carrying up with the worried facade he had gone for. He’s now waiting for Shuichi to speak up but the navy-haired boy just keeps smiling at him without a hint of regret or guilt on his face, kind of mirroring Rantaro in some ways. Kokichi didn’t like doubting facts that he knew for a fact were true but he was scared. Rantaro looked so serene while lying and it was making Kokichi uncomfortable. He really didn’t need to start doubting himself at this point.

“Did I puke?” Kokichi asked and to his surprise, that was the question Shuichi decided to answer. Shuichi’s outwardly demeanour was composed and nothing could’ve betrayed his lying as he answered in the affirmative. It was exasperating how both of them looked like they could be hiding anything from Kokichi and were probably taking him for an idiot even as they spoke. Kokichi decided that it was either time for him to give up or it was time for him to let it go and come to it later if he would still remember this situation, that is.

“Now then, are you feeling better?” Shuichi asked, parroting Rantaro’s earlier question with that hint of concern Kokichi never thinks he will be able to get used to but then again, there was something unsettling in his voice like the question wasn’t genuine or at least the feeling behind it wasn’t. Kokichi nodded his head before he slowly, with the help of Shuichi who had noticed his headache, made his way to the bathroom.

“Don’t worry, I’m good to go for a shower alone. I think I just had a slight moment of dizziness, so don’t worry about me too much! Thank you for your concern, Shumai!” He could lie too, the huge smile plastered on his face has nothing to do with how he really feels. Shuichi looked at him for a few seconds before he nodded and let him go. Kokichi closed the door and decided that he could perhaps eavesdrop.

He was conscious that he wasn’t supposed to do such a thing to the environment by wasting water but he really needed to know this. He started the shower after a while and pretended to get in, close the door and waited for them to speak up but after a while, he noticed that they weren’t going to talk and almost swore.

Of course, they would’ve known he wasn’t inside the shower since the sound would remain constant which was different than the usual noise. He gritted his noise before he decided that he would eavesdrop another time and got into the shower. It didn’t matter, he could squeeze them for information later on. Yeah, he could fo that.

“You really think he doesn’t know? Would he have pulled that little stunt if he didn’t?” Shuichi whispered as the irregular falling of water signalled that Kokichi had gone in. He was more than grateful that he had such a keen sense and had practically shushed Rantaro until the second Kokichi had abandoned listening to their little conversation.

“Shuichi, calm down. We’re not saints,” Rantaro said and Shuichi just shook his head. What did having to be saints have anything to do with their current predicament? It wouldn’t be long until Kokichi would find something that would give them away and then, what would they do then?

“I don’t see where you’re trying to get to,” Shuichi answered truthfully. He was rather annoyed by how calm Rantaro was and wondered for a second if they had changed thanks to Kokichi’s appearance in their lives. They had been so close then and now, it almost felt like Shuichi and Rantaro would need to run kilometres before they could be close.

“Shuichi, why do we have to act like the good guys?” Rantaro asked, his voice was a bit higher than normal as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked as annoyed as Shuichi felt at the moment. Rantaro merely watched as Shuichi practically fumed at him before his stoic mask came back on. He had to hold it in, all for his sake. 

“The pocket knife,” Rantaro suddenly said and watched as Shuichi stilled while walking around the room. Startling Shuichi wasn’t all that easy but this was a sensitive subject for the both of them. The existence of a cursed knife would perhaps bring them upon their end but for now, Rantaro wouldn’t care. He needed to know something and he would throw away their friendship if that was what it would cost for that piece of information.

“What about it?” Shuichi asked and gasped, remembering as he said those words that he wasn’t supposed to have gained knowledge of it. He almost wanted Kokichi to finish his shower so that he could step in and save Shuichi but he wouldn’t count on it.

“What. Did. You. Do?” Every word was pronounced with anger as Rantaro got up, bloodlust seeping out of his pores which made Shuichi take a step backwards. Rantaro put down the book he was reading and in a flash, rushed over and tightened his hands around Shuichi’s collar.

“I gave him the knife. That’s it, I… I’ve retrieved it so let go of me,” Suichi tugged at Rantaro’s arms but the other didn’t let go all that easily, however, his bloodlust seemed to have ramped down a notch thanks to Shuchi’s revelation.

“Why would you do that and tell me something, how did you know where he would put it? Ah, how did you even learn of the knife’s existence?” Rantaro asked. His grip didn’t relax and Shuichi figured that this was the first time Rantaro had lost control like this of his emotions but it was to be expected since neither of them had ever stabilised, to begin with.

Runaway experiments with various connections back to the source of their problems. They were runts who were unwanted by the rest of the world except those who wanted to take advantage of them and a lonely boy who didn’t know what he was getting into. 

“I gave it to him because you wouldn’t. Don’t think I didn’t learn that you could’ve died from disobeying them. You’ve lied enough to me and I figured it out when Kokichi mentioned the listening device. You’re still wrapped around their pinky finger... “ Shuichi trailed off sadly.

“That’s not important, how did you retrieve the knife?” Rantaro asked, gritting his teeth at Shuichi’s words but didn’t deny them for they had sworn not to lie to each other in moments of tension like this. It wouldn’t be smart for either of them to do so anyway.

“Kokichi was on the ground and I wrapped my arm around him. It seems that his training worked and like the good son he is, he respected his teachings and put the knife in his shoe, it shouldn’t have fit but somehow, he made it work. To be honest, it was kind of badly concealed so I think that maybe he put it in there without even thinking too much about it,” Shuichi answered, tilting his head so that his cap would cover most of his face.

“His father. He… that man-” Rantaro let go of Suichi’s collar and sat back down as quietly as he could before he picked up his book in one swift movement and motioned at Shuichi to get away from him. The sound of showering had stopped and they could hear water dripping down onto the cold floor as Kokichi went to get a towel. They were placed quite a distance away from the door to the towel hanger and Kokichi winced at how cold the tiled floor was.

“Later,” Shuichi mouthed at him and Rantaro nodded. The atmosphere shifted back to a pleasant one as Kokichi stepped out, clad in his clothes. He didn’t suspect anything as he sat on the bed to dry off his hair and smiled when Shuichi proposed to dry off his hair for him.

“Of course! How could I ever refuse something from my beloved Shumai?” Kokichi smiled and he really was a good actor, he figured because Shuichi didn’t even notice that he was lying. Kokichi got up from the bed and let Shuichi sit down before sitting in the space in between created for the sole purpose of letting him sit. 

Shuichi was so gentle as he used the rough towel to dry off his hair. Rantaro looked at them fondly and if Kokichi didn’t know any better than he could’ve sworn the tension in the room was immense. Rantaro was still exuding bloodlust despite holding his book as calmly as he could with the most at peace expression Kokichi had ever seen.

“Where did you get the book?” Kokichi asked and could’ve sworn his voice had disturbed the peace in the room. Shuichi had jolted at how loud he had spoken, Kokichi himself had startled at how loud he was being while Rantaro’s head snapped towards him.

Kokichi was looking at Shuichi so that he could express his guilt face-to-face and coincidentally missed the way Rantaro’s bloodlust had grown. When the smallest boy turned around, Rantaro was smiling with that gentle and loving smile of his that made Kokichi uneasy because there was something amiss about the entire room. 

“From the shelved downstairs. Oh! That’s right, you must’ve still been unconscious when we carried you in so you must’ve missed their selections of books available. Although there’s not exactly that much to look forward to,” Rantaro’s eyes narrowed at the book in his hand and put it own on the desk next to him.

“Should we leave?” Shuichi asked, startling Kokichi. It had cut off Rantaro’s last word and that was surprising in itself Shuichi almost never talked over anyone well then again, Kokichi had only ever seen him speak to Kaito, Rantaro and he himself.

“I think it would be preferable,” Rantaro answered before nodding slowly and looking at their minimal luggage. Since Kokichi couldn’t find an excuse to stay, despite wanting to because he could feel that something was off. He also wanted to see if he could find another one of those boxes in case they were related to them but he was ushered out of the room by Shuichi. Both he and Rantaro protested but Shuichi just smiled before the door closed upon itself and they heard the lock twist.

“Did he really just lock us out of our room?” Rantaro asked in disbelief before his eyes landed on Kokichi. The latter nods and stares at the door, equally as exasperated as Rantaro is and then, much to Rantaro’s surprise, Kokichi asked him a question that he had never thought he would hear.

“Why did you give me that pocket knife on the day that celebrates the day of my birth?” Rantaro is definitely shocked by the way Kokichi phrases it and can’t help but shiver at the monotonous tone Kokichi uses.

“Pocket knife?” Rantaro asks and tilts his head in confusion. Kokichi doesn’t hesitate to pretend he’s feeling faint and presses himself against the green-haired male. Rantaro is surprised by how adapting to the situation Kokichi is.

“Don’t lie to me, only you could’ve give it to me,” Kokichi whispers and Rantaro just shakes his head again. He wonders if Kokichi is listening to his heartbeat by using his stomach since he doesn’t want to make it apparent. Whatever the reason is, Rantaro stops himself from laughing and tries to keep up a professional facade.

“I have no idea what knife you’re talking about but perhaps if you show it to me then I might recognise it?” Rantaro asks and he lets Kokichi take his time to think and smirks when Kokichi agrees. Kokichi doesn’t see it because he busies himself with arching for the pocket knife.

Rantaro was testing Shuichi’s loyalty in some ways and he desperately hoped that the knife wouldn’t be there so that he could keep believing in Shuichi and when the purple-haired boy starts looking panicky, Rantaro’s smirk widens. When Kokichi finally tilts his head up to look at him, Rantaro’s smirk dissolves into a patient smile.

“Its… gone,” Kokichi’s hands are still roaming his own body in search of it as if it would randomly appear and Rantaro doesn’t miss the way Kokichi’s foot stomps down. There’s no purpose in searching for the knife on his body and he finally understands what that man’s training had done to the poor boy. Had Rantaro not known that the pocket knife had been in Kokichi’s shoe than he would’ve thought it had been on Kokichi’s body with the way he acted.

“Are you sure there was a knife in the first place? I mean, don’t you think I would’ve noticed that Shuichi had given it to you?” Rantaro asked, his voice was innocent but Kokichi truly could impress him at times.

“Nobody said that you were clear. What if you had taken it back, I know you drugged me, I know you-” Kokichi’s eyelids feel heavy and he shakes his head, it still hurts he realises and stops his motions. He feels dizzy all of the sudden, most likely from his previous movements and he stills himself so that he doesn’t cause himself more damage. He totters around, feeling like a new-born fawn and finally falls into Rantaro’s awaiting arms. 

He can’t see the way Rantaro smiles but he can feel it and his eyes struggle to stay open as he tries to glare up at the taller boy. He tries to bite at Rantaro, anything that could get him out of this situation and he reminds himself of a rabid animal but his efforts are useless as his consciousness slips away without his consent. Rantaro’s cooing at him and he heard the door open again.

“You’re truly selfish,” he heard Shuichi say and he wondered who the other was talking to, he knew that it was directed towards Rantaro but he wouldn’t have been surprised if it had also been aimed at Kokichi. He was quite well aware that he was being selfish. He didn't hear the next thing Rantaro said and only caught unimportant snippets of their conversation.

The warmness that Rantaro provides lulls him into a pleasant sleep and he doesn’t like it because he knows he’d been drugged again. He felt Shuichi’s warm hand gently caressing his back like he was some kind of wounded animal and inhaled sharply. He hadn’t even ingested something this time so what could have possibly triggered whatever it was. His last sight before he loses consciousness is the mock concern he can see on Rantaro’s face before even that is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests or prompts you'd like for me to write, you can message me on Instagram (isaac_t_foster) or Tumblr (isaacnotnewton3). You can also reach me if you have any questions you'd like to ask me. Thank you for reading.


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